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12/06-06/07
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One Of A Million Tributes To Tim Russert
The media response to the passing of Tim Russert was extraordinary. The coverage on MSNBC and NBC of course was extensive. Certainly Tim Russert was a member and a leader in the industry but still it surprised me.Why was it so extensive? I think it boils down to two different qualities. The first being that he was very good at what he did and the second factor was that he was a kind generous man.
I thoroughly enjoyed watching the coverage. It was refreshing to hear the stories about his love for his son Luke and for his wife and father. His peers lined up to express their admiration. Those whom he led as the Washington Bureau Chief for NBC expressed their seemingly endless amount of respect. Emotions were often running high and many fought back tears.
It has been a very long time since I have woken early enough on a Sunday morning to watch Meet The Press. My exposure to him was limited until election night, 2000. There were many clips shown of this night where he eschewed the high tech options at his disposal which could have been used to analyze the delegate count that evening. Instead he pulled out a handy old dry erase board and used his less than perfect handwriting to illustrate what states the election would come down to. On one side of the dry erase board he wrote, "Florida, Florida, Florida". As we now know that is exactly what happened.
I was amazed at his simple but effective use of the dry erase board. I loved it. This guy was real. He was down to earth. That evening I stayed up until the wee hours of the morning. It was just Tim and I. At least it felt that way. I had just made a new friend.
That is what I believe people saw in Mr. Russert. A simple man who enjoyed the hell out of what he was doing with his life. I have no doubt that if he felt like he could get away with it, around 1 am that November morning he would have taken off his jacket, rolled up his sleeves, flung off his tie and popped open a beer right before he exclaimed, "Oh yeah, this is going to be a fun one tonight."
There is value in loving what you do. His passion took him to the heights of his profession and we are all the better for it.
Some of the words used to describe Tim Russert were "fair, hard-working, passionate, tough, and intelligent." If you were to make a recipe out of words that would describe a successful person all of those would be included.
Mr. Russert tried to bring us the real story but was never part of the story. He informed us not by being loud, not by beating us over the head with his ideas but instead by bringing the newsmakers on his show and allowing them to present their ideas and of course by asking them tough questions when he felt we deserved an honest answer.
He earned the respect of those under him by showing genuine interest in their problems and applauding their success. I have known so many managers who feel that they cannot be effective unless those below them fear them. That is so entirely wrong.
Those employees I am sure would have walked over hot coals if Mr. Russert needed them to, but only because he would have done the same for them.
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