Ode to Ed Gilligan

I had a good cry this morning, after reading Ed Gilligan’s obituary. Ed was the president of American Express and died suddenly on May 29th. I learned the sad news on the night of his death, but it was only when I held the newspaper in my hands and saw Ed’s great smile, that the full impact hit me.

I was not close with Ed, but like so many who spent any amount of time with him, he left me with a lasting impression – this guy is for real. I met Ed two years ago, when I was asked to interview him in front of a live audience at LinkedIn FinanceConnect 2013. I knew that the event would be special because of Ed’s easygoing nature, great sense of humor and candid remarks. Ed is the only C-Suite executive I have ever interviewed who said, “Don’t worry—you can ask me anything…nothing is out of bounds.”

And he meant it. Ed talked about his three-decade journey at American Express, his never-ending quest to inject a growth mindset into a 160-year-old company and his love of social media. Nowhere was Ed more engaging than when he discussed diversity and inclusion. I may have said something like, “Who would have thought that a 50-something white guy like you would be the flag-bearer of diversity!” Ed took this as I meant it: high praise from an out lesbian.

The interview was great and although we barely knew each other, Ed and I communicated as though we had been old friends for years. After the event, I sent Ed and his colleague Brad an e-mail and asked whether they wanted to have lunch, figuring, “This will never happen, but what the heck?”

To my great pleasure, we had that lunch and over the course of two hours, I learned a lot about Ed the man, rather than Ed the corporate executive. Without sharing his off-the-record comments, I can say that my time spent with Ed helped to solidify my admiration for him.

We interacted sporadically over the past two years, but I was fortunate enough to see Ed three weeks ago at LinkedIn FinanceConnect 2015. He agreed to participate if I would be willing to interview him again. Once again, Ed rocked the house and I lost count of all the people who came up to me after we got off the stage and said, “I wish I worked for that guy!”

Ed was unique: an authentic class act, who was clear about who he was and where he came from, and able to break through even the iciest of individuals with a great sense of humor. Brad told me that Ed had recently told him, "I like Jill. We bonded the first time we talked -- a 6 foot tall Jewish lesbian, who goes to her left." This six-foot tall Jewish lesbian is going to miss the over-achieving son of Irish immigrants, who blew out his knee playing soccer and lost his scholarship, and thirty years later, became a giant of the financial world.