A leader’s job is simple, just not easy.

The summer of my sophomore year in high school I had a job at RCA Rubber in Akron, Ohio, where my Dad was the controller.

My boss was Miss Phelps, the finance manager, a small, trim woman who always wore a jacket or sweater even in summer when the heat from the rubber plant below was super stifling.  It didn’t matter that her first name was Evelyn. She was “Miss Phelps”, if you know what I mean.

My job was to help her during the weeks that Joan, her assistant, was on vacation.

In June, Joan taught me my duties. She emphasized the importance of double-checking my work (“Add the column from bottom up.”), then triple-checking (“Add 5 numbers together, write that down, then the next five, and so forth.”) At every check point, she sang “a penny off is a penny off and not balanced.”

My final test was to check the addition on multiple sheets of large, light green pages with lots of grid lines. The heavy adding machine went “cha-chunk” when I pulled the handle. Even though the “to the penny” pressure added heat to an already warm back office, I got the job done. Cha-chunk. Cha-chunk.   Balanced.

In July, Joan went on vacation.

Begin … again

On the first day of being on my own, Miss Phelps ceremoniously unlocked a small, green petty cash box and handed it to me as she said, “Balance it, please.” I took the box to Joan’s desk, put the receipts in order and began – Cha-chunk. Cha-chunk.

Focused on “to the penny,” I checked my work. First forward by date, then backwards, then grouped by week.  Nothing matched.  Nothing.

I began again. I told myself “It’s simple, Cam. Numbers are numbers.” Still, the cash and the receipts did not match. Not a few, but many pennies off.

I walked over the greenish-whiteish checkered linoleum floor (an RCA product) and stood at the edge of Miss Phelps’ dark, well-worn desk. “It doesn’t match.” I showed her my work.

She thanked me, took my work sheets, locked the petty cash box and said I could go to lunch.

Lunch with Dad at Swenson’s drive-in was always a treat – hamburgers, fries, and a small root beer shake. Except today. After we ordered, I told Dad I didn’t get the job done. I’m pretty sure I rattled off all the single, double and triple checks I’d done, but I don’t really remember that. I do remember telling him I was sorry.

Joan didn’t return to work. The petty cash box would never balance because she’d embezzled $3,000. (My memory wants it to be $30k, but that would mean that Miss Phelps didn’t check Joan’s work for a long time, and I can’t imagine that!).

I felt vindicated – I’d done my job. I wasn’t sorry any more, expect for Joan.

Leadership lesson

Sometimes things don’t turn out as planned.  That doesn’t mean people didn’t do their best. Rather, it means that whatever did “turn out” – whatever results was produced – will tell you exactly what’s needed to move forward.  A leader’s job is to look at what’s present, and, if it isn’t the intended result, the job is to ask, “what’s missing?” and then provide it.  It’s a simple job, just not easy.

PS: There’s nothing petty about petty cash. (Yeah, I just hadda say it!)

PPS: RCA Rubber is still in business and it looks nothing like it did in 1964.

PPPS: Later in my work life, I was a successful finance manager. Go figure.