40 Years Day #9 Bank Covenants, the Fine Print & Arrogance…

At Gillett we did a lot of deals and evaluated far more.  We also had various debt agreements with covenants to be followed.  In addition to being assistant corporate controller for Gillett Holdings (which had the Drexel bond debt) I also kept the books for some other smaller companies, one of which had a single bank loan.  I was working on the quarterly debt covenants and realized that we were going to miss one.  As I sat reading thru the loan documents, I picked up on some language that apparently had not been previously interpreted as I believed it could be.  If I was correct, then we could be compliant, which was important.

Our CFO intimidated me as he was very proficient and had done more deals than I could imagine. I found him in the office of a senior co-worker who had always been of great assistance to me.  I explained the situation, my findings and then in my nervousness and ignorance I also gave an alternative “solution”.  When I’d said it, I recall thinking I should have stuck with the facts and let more experienced minds reach their own conclusions.  The senior co-worker came down later and told me the CFO thought I was young and arrogant.  Ouch...confirmation made me wince!

The next morning, I arrived at 6am (normal hours were 6-6) knowing the CFO would be there and I wanted to speak with him.  I found him when he was getting coffee and apologized for my youthful indiscretion…and told him how nervous he made me.  He appreciated the apology and, as best I could tell, he forgave me, and our limited future interactions were none the worse. 

I always remembered how badly I slept the night in between the event and the morning talk but how relieved I felt when I had confronted the issue head-on.  I always try to admit my mistakes quickly and make amends though I clearly will never reach perfection in this world!  On the other hand, I try to remember that I may be intimidating to others and cause them to nervously react in a way that they too regret – thus I attempt to put people at ease as often as possible.