Deb Mayer: Mentors Made the Difference

Leadership Resources

Joe McCormack

Failure:  When Your Best Just Isn’t Good Enough

I had always prided myself on never meeting a boss I couldn’t work for until I went to work for the Managing Partner of a large Century City search firm in Los Angeles in 1982.  I had come from New York, where, at 36, I was the second highest revenue producer in the office of a Chicago-based executive search firm, so I had a pretty high opinion of myself.

One October day in 1983, I had to confess that this relationship was a failure.  The Century City office was an authoritarian environment where every consultant’s mail was read and phone conversations were often monitored.  After being called on the carpet for the fourth time that week over some trivial expense or time allocation, I went back to my office, closed the door (which was frowned upon) and wept, as much out of anger and frustration as out of grief.  I knew as surely as I sat there that I had to get out of that situation for my mental health and my continuing success.

Born in New York, I was raised by a (mostly) single mother in northern California, and I attended the University of California at Berkeley, where I met my first male partner and graduated with a degree in English Literature in 1967.  I went to New York to pursue a career in publishing, which led – in a roundabout way – to executive search. 

That October weekend, I met with a client to discuss forming our own search practice, which we launched in December of 1983 as McCormack & Farrow.  This grew to become the largest retained search practice in Orange County, California.  In 1993, I sold my interest in McCormack & Farrow to my partner Jerry, and I came out publicly with the launch of McCormack & Associates, the first national out and open gay search practice.  Jerry, an Annapolis graduate and Vietnam Marine helicopter pilot, congratulated me and told me that the best man at his wedding was gay.  I experienced only support and encouragement for my decision. Over the past 14 years, McCormack & Associates has filled senior level positions for virtually every AIDS and LGBT organization of significant size in the country.  We have also built client relationships with major colleges and universities, arts institutions, city and county governments and social justice organizations.

So in my case, failure was a necessary prelude to success.  I have since learned that most entrepreneurs are not visionary volunteers.  They are out of work executives with a strong work ethic and a need to put bread on the table, as I was.  And I learned as much about leadership from that negative example in Century City as I learned from my Marine Corps business partner and others who understand how to build teamwork.  A great leader has to have a high empathy quotient and faith that criticism should be sparing and encouragement plentiful to inspire others to do their very best.