HE NEVER SAW HIMSELF AS OTHERS SAW HIM

He was humble. He was kind. He was deeply devoted to his family. He was a leader in his profession. He always shared his knowledge. He was a strategic thinker. He was conscientious. He cared.

And the list of Harvey Greisman’s virtues goes on and on. But everything came to a screeching halt about a week and a half ago. For Harvey Greisman died suddenly while he was on a trip to Florida to attend his father’s funeral.

The suddenness of it all left everyone frozen in their tracks.

His death was shocking for me, as Harvey was my friend. I had just had dinner with him a couple months ago. Professionally, I had served on a number of panels with Harvey and most recently had invited him to participate as a member of our IPREX global panel on the financial crisis last May.

The respect for Harvey was broad and deep. He served in leadership positions at IBM and GTE. He was on boards of organizations like the Arthur W. Page Society and the Institute for Public Relations . Most recently he headed global communications at MasterCard.

“But he never saw himself, I now understand, as others saw him,” noted his wife. “He never thought of himself as an industry leader, and I never knew that he was. And rather than focus on the great things he did do, Harvey always thought about what he didn’t do and didn’t say – at meetings or assignments on or off the job. He was never truly satisfied with his contribution.”

This was a sad revelation about the man. I always admired Harvey and was disappointed to learn that he was not aware of the esteem in which he was held. As professional communicators, we need to be more forthright in communicating our positive feelings to colleagues both about what they represent to us and mean to others.

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