This is my best recollection of what happened at the NAILBA Annual meeting November 17, 2001 during General Schwarzkopf’s closing presentation.  A version of this was shared with the world.  Bill O’Quin, a good friend who sends out the largest email distribution for Chicken Soup for the Soul, ended up putting this up on another site he runs for Reader’s Digest:   www.americainuniform.com.

            It represents a great example of NetWeaving and the fact that , “what goes around. . .does come back around”.

          General Schwarkopf passed away in 2012 but this was written years before.

The Schwarzkopf story“Norm”, as he likes to be called now, in his retirement, is into so many humanitarian and charitable activities, it would be difficult naming them all.  He may be a retired military General, but like Colin Powell, he represents many of those qualities which are symbolic of the American Spirit.   The fact that our military is run by men and women of character and compassion, as well as with a commitment to keep America strong and safe, makes this greatest experiment in humanitarian democracy the world has ever known even more remarkable.
Most of his talk was about leadership. He pointed out that what distinguishes leaders is that they LEAD because they are able to INSPIRE people to WILLINGLY do that which they would not ordinarily do on their own.
It was an incredibly inspirational talk and at the end of his address, he opened things up for Q&A.  As you might guess, at this time (November 17 – Kabul had just fallen; women were uncovering their faces and men were shaving theirs; the Taliban was in retreat into the South), he was answering many questions about whether or not we should pursue Bin Laden – you already know his answer, and he also contrasted this situation with why we didn’t, and why he felt we really couldn’t, go after Saddam in the Gulf War.

Just as the session was nearing the end, a young lady came up to the microphone.  Although I didn’t know it at the time, she was an executive with Xerox, one of the companies exhibiting at the con-vention.  As she approached the microphone, she held some notes in her hand which she had obviously just scribbled onto a couple of sheets from the notepads provided on the tables in the meeting room.

As she started out, you could hear a slight tremor in her voice and General Schwarzkopf noticed her hands were shaking, which was not surprising in addressing an audience of over 1,000 people.  “Good Morning“, she finally said, as she looked down at her notes.

Seeing she was a little nervous, and reading from her notes, General Schwarzkopf jokingly asked her, “Did you memorize that. . .or was that spontaneous?”   She laughed, as did the audience, and that allowed her to regain her composure, and she started reading.
With an ever-increasing inflection in her voice, she described the PRIDE she, her sister and husband who were veterans of the United States Air Force all felt, having served under him, adding that she served in Panama (Air Force – Aircraft Engineer) and as her father before had served in the Army Air Corps.   As a request from her father, she thanked General Schwarzkopf for his past and continued leadership.

She also expressed her wish that she could have been in uniform to salute him (military protocol required), while she also regretted that even a handshake wasn’t possible because of the added security protection in place in the hall.  It had already been announced that Secret Service had been advised to “tackle and subdue” anyone coming within the 40 foot microphone-to-stage-corridor.
She then asked what advice we as parents should give to our children as the next generation of leaders of this country. He said, tell them, “It’s ok to do your own thing, but do it PLUS 1.”  That ONE something extra is to help someone else up a hill; be a leader and stay one step ahead in helping them meet their goals successfully.  That’s the advice he says he’s given his own children.
With her short-read piece completed and answered (probably taking less than a minute), General Schwarzkopf then asked her to come forward to join him on stage.
As she walked the 40 feet to the stage and stood at attention, you could have heard a pin drop. General Schwarzkopf first directed her to salute him and she addressed him with a full military salute, which he immediately returned.  After she saluted him, he asked if he could shake her hand.  He then asked if he could hug her.

That’s when she totally lost it (along with 1,200 other people in the audience) and through her sobs into General Schwarzkopf’s lapel-microphone, this audience was treated to an event which will stay in our collective memories for the rest of our lives.

It was an event I shall never forget – one of those once-in-a-lifetime experiences that EVERY person in that room will carry in their hearts, and pass on to their grandchildren.  We truly were blessed being in that room and “God Bless America” now takes on special meaning.

But that isn’t the REST OF THE STORY.

The meeting was on the Saturday, the week before Thanksgiving.  On that following Monday, I happened to be on the phone with Bob Davis, a reporter for USA Today, working on another possible story for another consulting client of mine.  As we wrapped up our conversation, I told the reporter this story and he asked if I would write it up as an email for him.  He wanted to take it to the editors to see if they would print that in the Thanksgiving Day Edition of USA Today.

Well, it didn’t get published there, but the email, which is very similar to what is described above, literally went around the world as people sent it to friends, and they sent it to friends and family, etc., etc.  Then when my friend Bill O’Quin put it up on the www.americainuniform site, military persons around the world were also treated to this great story.

About 2 weeks later, I received a phone call from Nancy Richardson, the lady with Xerox who had shared her story and emotions.  First she thanked me again for all the work I had done and frankly it WAS a lot of work – calls to confirm the facts from her and to get her permission and her willingness to appear in USA Today which she was thrilled to do.  Then actually writing up the event, as well as a number of calls back and forth with the reporter with USA Today, and then later with Bill O’Quin.

But then Nancy apologized for the fact that even though I’d done all this work, she still had never asked me what I did for a living.  I told her that I sell some insurance, act as “second opinion” fee-paid consultant to high net worth individuals, as well as serve as a consultant to insurance companies and vendors.  As I described more about my background and some of my clients, she said, “We need to hire you”.  And they did.

AFTERMATH – almost a year later

In September of the following year, in Rochester, NY,  I helped Xerox put on a very successful meeting which not only added much to their meeting, but it also opened up my eyes to new possibilities for NetWeaving in helping technology companies create an atmosphere of openness and sharing at technology “user group” meetings.  As a consequence of that discovery, I have gotten several other engagements which I would not have even considered had it not been for this opportunity – all brought about by NetWeaving.

As we say about NetWeaving, every single act of NetWeaving is like throwing a stone into a still pool of water.  It sets off an ever-expanding set of circumstances and chain of events, whose consequences and ramifications may not be known for days, months, or even years into the future.  Nevertheless, as sure as the sun also rises, “what goes around. . .does come back around”. . . and good things DO happen. . . when good people MAKE things happen”.