'Tis the Season for Gratitude (Part I: Cathy Bartzos)

I don’t remember exactly how old I was when I met Catherine Bartzos, but it wasn’t more than a couple years into my career, when I still felt uneasy about where to sit in an internal meeting when “important people were there”. I had the privilege to see Cathy in action in many rooms (she was one of “the important people” I fretted about offending), and she hired me into my first client-facing role when I was in the latter half of my 20s.

I don’t have enough virtual paper to list all the things I learned from Cathy, but she taught me everything I needed to know about clients. She was there for my first client meeting, my first client dinner, and the first time I led a successful effort to earn a client’s business (thankfully, we never lost any). The first time I welcomed a client visiting from Japan, she helped me practice in her office to ensure I greeted him with etiquette that correctly demonstrated our respect for him. She also set a supreme example of “how to be” within the firm, on both good days and bad. She taught me that you could get over having left the books uptown for the most important meeting of the year (true story, my fault) and that you could still shine in a meeting after having been stuck zippered into your winter coat (also true) because you could get through anything as long as you didn’t panic, which I was apt to do back then.

Cathy has provided sound counsel for many years, whether that was to gently note that my favorite tortoise shell headband made me appear younger than my years, which was important to an already very young woman having to command the attention of entire rooms, or as I considered having children of my own. When I had my son, she was there to remind me I could teach him just as much through my example of hard work and professionalism as I could by being home more often than I was. Cathy was also there with my friend Katie Drabble, having gotten to the office early to hug me on my first day back after a heartbreaking miscarriage. Most important, Cathy taught me (and defended me the one or two times someone deigned to disagree) that good salespeople come in different shapes and sizes, and that your approach means more to your ability to earn others’ trust than does the pitch of your voice.

What I have learned on Cathy’s watch has had equal impact on my professional and personal lives, serving me in both wonderful and challenging times. I’m not sure where the time has gone (my more mature face could use that headband these days) but I am so pleased to continue to call Cathy a friend and confidante. Thank you, Cathy, for everything you have done and continue to do.

If you’re reading this and you aren’t Cathy, thank you for letting me voice these words of praise that have been floating in my mind unsaid for too many years. I hope this will serve as a reminder to thank, publicly or privately, someone who made a difference for you, and I hope you will humor me by reading a few more of these from me this holiday season.

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