Friday, August 29, 2014
Many years ago, Alan (Ace) Greenberg sent me a complimentary autographed copy of his new book,Memos from the Chairman. I was curious as to why he would do that – having never met him… but his note was paper clipped to a page which explained why he did.
The page he paperclipped was an article I had written a few months earlier that ran nationwide.(In this case “the Chicago Sun Times – Phone Dr. Has RX for Telerudeness)
It apparently hit home with Ace and he included it in his book, Memos From the Chairman. He was kind enough to send me a copy.
I immediately picked up the phone to call and thank him – never having a fear of ‘cold calling – I fully expected him not to be at his desk. I was prepared with a message for his secretary (before there were ‘assistants’) Well, what do you know? He picked up his phone and said, “Hello, this is Ace Greenberg.’. (What else would he say?)
“Mr Greenberg, my name is Nancy Friedman, The Telephone Doctor, did I catch you at a bad time? Do you have a moment to talk?” I don’t recall the entire conversation…but his welcome to me was as tho we had been friends for quite a while.
After chatting about the article, which he again, said he loved – he said, “next time you’re in NYC, please call me, I’d like to meet you”.
Well, as any keynote speaker knows…we never know when we’ll be or where. I assured him I would – thanked him again. And send a short hand written thank you note for the nice chat we had and for his including my article in his book.
Lo and behold.. a few months later, I did get booked in NYC… I called him and told him. He asked me to please come meet him and his staff.
I had never been in a stock market atmosphere, so when we got to the Bear Stearns office I didn’t know what to expect. I was with my husband, Dick, who, while loving the stocks, hadn’t been to the stock market either. We were both rather excited.
As he told us to do, we called his office from the lobby…..and one of his folks came to get us. We took, what I labeled ‘a secret elevator’. Surely no one else knew where this was. Not only was it SMALL, it was well hidden.
When we got up to Ace’s office.. he welcomed us with open arms….took us around to introduce us and sat in his office for a while to talk. A gracious man, he was very interested in how we got into our business. Busy that he was, he made time for us. As my dad used to say, “want something done? Give it to a busy person”.
A fun experience. Having met some high powered folks in my life, as well as many an actor – we left this meeting with a very good impression. Calm, in charge, and personable, Mr. Greenberg was a very nice man.
I’m glad I had the opportunity to meet Mr. Greenberg, and to thank him for putting our article in his book. Proud to have been a part of that.
His recent passing sadden us. And while he told us to call him Ace…
I still mix in a “Mr. Greenberg” every once in a while.