Falling for the Man Called Chairman

The youngest executive's essay contains a line that makes me bashful: "Honestly, the biggest reason I joined this company was not the business — I fell for the chairman as a man." Embarrassing, but I write about it, because it holds the essence of hiring and organization. People ultimately follow not conditions but a person.

Plans change, products change, offices and salaries change; the one thing that doesn't is "I want to go with this person." Those who join for conditions leave over conditions; those who join for a person prove their worth in hard times. So a leader's job is to remain worthy of it — and what he fell for was no talent of mine.

"He faced me head-on, in complete earnest, and raised me." Facing people in earnest: something anyone can do and almost no one does. That may be organization-building's deepest secret.

What do you work for?