GETTING AHEAD
over the last couple of years is a lot of people have stooped to pick up someone else’s money, thinking it was easier, and it never is.” When Moran joined Mutual Life of America, Bill Flynn, who would also later become heavily involved in the peace process, was CEO. Moran’s initial job was to proof pension plans and to take the documents into Flynn for signing once he had accumulated a batch of them. “What amazed me as I looked back on it was first that I could just walk into his office. Second was that as he was signing the documents, he’d have me sit down and he’d ask me how I thought things were going in the company. And he was genuinely interested in what I had to say, or appeared to be. “It was a great lesson for me as someone in a very low position in the company that someone as important as him would take the time to even talk to me. And that really has been the culture of our company.”
Giving back Another big part of both Moran’s and the company’s culture has involved volunteering and giving to various causes. “A lot of corpora- tions nowadays have this idea that their philanthropic giving should be somehow tied directly to their business,” he says. “I think that’s a mistake. By doing the right things and caring enough to want to make a difference in the world, you generate a sense of pride among your employees in the company itself, and if they feel proud of their company they will work hard themselves. “I often say there is no company in America with a finer group of employees than we have here. One hundred percent of our employ- ees are involved in some form of philanthropy, either by volunteering their time or their money. When I report to our board of directors each year end I report not only the financials but also on all the char- itable efforts that have been undertaken by the employees of the company because I believe that’s a measure of the quality of the peo- ple we have. If you believe you have the opportunity to make a dif- ference and improve society you will be a better worker.” Mutual of America was set up in 1945 to provide NGO workers with retirement plans and the company now has 15,000 charities amongst its members. “Which means I get invited to a lot of dinners and I’m given the opportunity to contribute to a lot of organisations,” laughs Moran. Just one of those organisations is Concern Worldwide, with which he has travelled to Ethiopia, Sri Lanka, Haiti, Rwanda, Niger, Tanzania, Mozambique and the Congo in the last 10 years. The day after we speak, he’s set to fly to Sierra Leone. “For a long time I resis- ted going simply because I didn’t want to be another white, rich guy going to see how poor people live. I was talked into going and my first trip was to Ethiopia and I was so moved by the people. I said to a group of men I was speaking with how honoured I was to be with them and asked them what I could do to be of help. They said, ‘Just by being here you’ve reminded us that we haven’t been forgotten’. “A good friend of mine, Elie Wiesel, who’s a Holocaust survivor and a
Nobel Peace Prize winner, often says the lowest point when he was in the camps was when he began to believe that no one knew he was there. “His words, combined with what I heard from these men in Ethiopia, made me realise how wrong I was. It’s important I go and
visit with Concern, not only to see how the programmes are run, but to be there as a witness. So one of the requirements I have for the trips, since I don’t have a lot of time, is that we go to places that aren’t the typical stop.” The way Moran sees it, the greatest beneficiary of Concern’s work is himself. “It helps you put your own life in perspective. It’s helped me see beyond the island of Manhattan and to the reality of the world that we live in. I wish more people had the opportunity to do it because you see the great dignity and generosity of people who are some of the most vulnerable in the world. They’re living in the most difficult conditions and they still have that great quality to them.”
Learning from experience His advice for anyone setting out or in the early stages of their career is to look at their own experiences to see if any lessons can be learnt from them. “All of us have the experiences that have shaped our lives and we don’t focus on them often enough. When you focus on them you can really understand who you are a little bit better and maybe use those experiences to remind yourself of what’s important. “The next step is to really develop an appreciation for the larger world instead of the smaller world – the world that exists beyond your vision. I learned an awful lot when I was driving the taxi because in New York you had so many people from all over the coun- try and all over the world. I never had the money to travel when I was young so I travelled through the stories of other people. I think when you open yourself to new experiences you gain tremendously, much more than you’ll ever give.” Moran has strong views on leadership. “From the time I started work- ing at the age of 14 until today one consistent thing is that I’ve always hated bosses. A leader is someone who shares their own vision and invites people to participate in it to help to shape it and then go forward together. A leader is someone who doesn’t bark out orders, that’s a boss. “People often forget that following is a voluntary act. When you’re there in front of them people may be intimidated and want you to hear the right things that make you feel good. But the reality is that if you’re a boss instead of a leader, those folks will volunteer to follow you while you’re there barking out orders. But the moment you’re not there two things happen: one, they don’t know what to do and two, they may choose not to follow you anymore. “Leadership in our company comes from every level. For example, the reason we’re as strong as we are today is that when everyone else tripped over the sub-prime mortgages we didn’t. And it wasn’t because of some genius move on my part. It was because a fellow we have who handles our mortgage portfolio looked at it and didn’t feel it was consistent with who we were and he said he took apart the box and it was empty. He made a decision and asked his boss what he should do, and his boss said, ‘Do what you know is right’. “Sometimes it’s hard to buck the crowd, but when you do and you do the right thing you stand apart from everyone.”
Grainne Rothery
Thomas P Moran is a member of the North American Advisory Board of UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School.
UCD BUSINESS CONNECTIONS 33
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