A Truly Great Man Has Left Us
Posted @ 7:54 pm - Filed under Sez Me, Mentoring
Wally Porter passed away this week — and the sense of loss is palpable for hundreds of people who knew him.
Wally was my first real mentor in real estate. He taught me what to say and how to say it. He taught me how to treat people — with empathy and compassion.
His first decade as an adult he was a minister. He had the first integrated church in downtown Los Angeles. I still don’t know for sure how many languages were spoken in that church. He was a very accomplished musician, playing several instruments, and in a traveling jazz band. His second career was in real estate, though he was always in some position of leadership in his local church. The man was ultra talented in everything he did. I’ve tried to remember a day I didn’t see him smiling 90% of the time. He oozed enthusiasm for life. A conversation with Wally was made up of equal parts laughter and him listening to you. He drew people out.
At breakfast, the day after his memorial service, I was told the following story about Wally, which epitomized who he was as a man.
When I was around 22, there was a guy in our office, who, on a good day was a dour man. His outlook on life was, to be kind, sour, cynical, and sometimes mean-spirited. When they told me this story, I knew it was about him, because he’d disappeared from the company like steam in the air one week.
Wally (the firm’s general manager) saw him browbeating a very young couple into buying a home. They became more and more cowed as the guy kept pressuring them. To make a long story short, the couple left, scared and frustrated. Wally went to the guy’s desk, told him to get his stuff together, and fired him on the spot. (You could do that in those days.) He was appalled. He then called the young couple, apologizing profusely, and made an appointment with them for the following day. Wally made sure they ended up with a home they truly wanted. Remember, he was the GM — he ran the company. He didn’t spend precious time showing homes to first time buyers. Anyway, they owned it for many years, and called Wally when it was time to sell. They’d remembered his kindness and compassion.
His memorial couldn’t be held in his own church — it wasn’t big enough to hold the crowd.
There’s always something people can say about a good man when he passes. Wally wasn’t just a good man though. He was one of those Quiet Giants who changed hundreds of people’s lives for the better. I say quiet because he was always about you, and never about himself. He made Dale Carnegie appear to be a bitter old man. 
He showed me what the word professional meant when dealing with the public. He showed me how to be a leader. He showed me how to really listen to people. Best of all he showed me how to be a man and a father. I’ve never known a better father.
On Father’s Day I spoke of my Uncle Cork as stepping up to the plate. There are actually three such men in my life. Wally took over where Cork left off. He was my dad’s best friend since they were in high school. This friendship came up when Dad needed a general manager for his company in the ’60’s. Dad’s company was hugely successful, so this was an immensely important hire.
Even though I was only 16, I asked Dad why he would even consider having Wally as his GM, when he’d only been licensed for just over a year. I’ve never forgotten his reply.
“Son, I could hire any number of very experienced and highly knowledgeable men to be my GM. But I need to trust them implicitly. If Wally told me that at noon on July 4th, in Death Valley, it was going to snow — I’d bring my parka with me.”
How many men can you say that about?
He did hire Wally, and just like he said, it was one of the wisest business moves he’d ever made. Because of his presence we were a company which combined two attributes rarely found in our business in combination. We were the highest volume company with the fewest agents per office (# of agents per sale) AND the happiest sales force in San Diego County. Since Dad was known (mostly affectionately) as Attila the Hun, Wally was the perfect guy to be in charge of day to day operations. To say they were an odd couple is to strain understatement.
Wally wasn’t just a great man — he was a Quiet Giant who changed lives for the better just by his presence. If ever people think of me half of what they thought of him, I will have been a successful man.
For those of you who never met Wally Porter, you missed something special. There are very few Quiet Giants like him among us.
Simply put, I wouldn’t be who I am or where I am today, but for Wally Porter. I’m a much better man because he was in my life.
The world was an infinitely better place because he was in it. I already miss him.
This entry was posted on Friday, June 29th, 2007 at 7:54 pm and is filed under Sez Me, Mentoring. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.