Create advocates

Bob Graham, regional managing director, Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc.

Bob Graham understands that it’s all about
his people. But when you have a lot of people
— and in his role as regional managing director for the Illinois-Wisconsin and Northern
Indiana region of Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc.,
he has more than 1,000 employees — it can
be hard to have time to talk with all of
them.

“You can’t be all things to everybody,”
Graham says. “However, you have to recognize there are key people in every location
that have key people attached to them.”

Graham says those people tend to show
themselves to you. If you take the occasion
to spend time with everybody at a location,
you can see who is passionate about and
accurate with the mission.

“Identifying who they are goes a long way
in extending who you are,” he says. “I can’t
spend all time with everybody, but I do
spend more time with larger producers and
certain pockets of people.”

As you identify those people, they can act
as your testimonial. And the more effort
you make to improve your relationships
with employees, the more of these advocates you’ll have.

“I have a whole cadre of people who are
turning 40 and celebrating their 15th
anniversary, and I hired them,” he says. “So
these are folks that have impact, have loyalty. They’re advocates, and they’re out there
validating or diffusing perceptions.”