Bob Newhart, Executive Coach

We have noticed the #businessbook shelves are full of #management advice from some unlikely sources, e.g. Harry Potter, Shakespeare, 50 Cent, Moses, Winnie The Pooh. So why not dearly & recently departed comedian Bob Newhart? What can Bob teach us about Leadership?

Quit your day job. He didn’t enjoy being an accountant. He enjoyed being a copywriter more, but couldn’t stop making funny recordings with co-workers and submitting them to radio stations. Fortune favors the bold.

Know when to be subtle and understated. Bob quipped, “I guess the American public didn’t feel threatened by me,” which aligns with the Lao-Tzu tenet, “A leader is best when people barely know he exists, when his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say: we did it ourselves.”

Listen. Enjoy the silence. His classic telephone bits and the peerless sit-com delivery style both effortlessly employed pregnant pauses. How I could benefit professionally from such restraint - letting a quiet moment linger, letting a certain pitch wait a beat, letting a comment go unanswered for a change. So much gets discovered in the quiet.

Be consistent but be adaptable. He of course honed a signature inimitable style, but ventured into a variety of media and genres – albums, live stand-up, variety show co-hosting, game show paneling, feature films, dramas, etc.

Surround yourself with excellence. To appreciate Newhart is to appreciate Daily and Bonerz and Riley and Wallace and Pleshette and Frann and Poston and Duffy and Scolari et. al. Share the spotlight but not always - his series required eponymous ownership of the epicenter, his masterful turn in Elf required full commitment to the goofy costume, etc.

Find the common ground, and find your tribe. His best friend? Surprisingly, Don Rickles. Not so incongruous when you realize their mastery of timing, their love for their wives, family men in a vocation that discouraged that, etc. As chronicled in the great Judd Apatow short documentary, “Bob and Don: A Love Story.” Some of it of course was opposites attract – Catholic scripted monology met Jewish stream-of-consciousness extemporaneous. But as Rickles himself explained, “our values are the same – we believe in the same things and we laugh at the same things.”

Put in the time and never quit. Audiences who may only know him from his (only) Emmy Award winning role in Big Bang Theory & Young Sheldon need to know that this was a career built on 60 years of consistent comedic work.

Be you. His eulogies included the #goals observation, "The only difference between Bob Newhart on stage and Bob Newhart offstage is that there is no stage."

And Power guru Robert Greene might concur with my thesis:

·????? Law 5: "So Much Depends on Reputation – Guard it with your Life": Newhart worked clean, which helped preserve his reputation as likable and relatable.

·????? Law 9: "Win through your Actions, Never through Argument": Newhart’s sit-com characters – Chicago psychologist, Vermont innkeeper - were mediators. He sought conflict resolution in the eye of the storm, by channeling the chaos not replicating it. He was getting to mutual agreement, not to we-win-they-lose. This is some Sun-Tzu stuff – “the wise warrior avoids the battle.”

·????? Law 16: "Use Absence to Increase Respect and Honor": Yes, it was before the Information Age, but he seemingly didn't oversaturate the market with constant appearances.

·????? Law 38: "Think as you like but Behave like others": Newhart's comedy was universal, as the relatable every-man reacting to the every-day absurd.