Nine years ago, I was working on my MBA. The mergers and acquisitions class was about to start and we were all excited because a classmate was able to convince the CEO of his company to teach the class. This was the CEO of a public company, on boards of other public companies and was on the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. In addition, he was involved in several ongoing mergers and acquisitions. Not a busy guy at all!
As each of us walked into the room for our first class, he greeted us by name. All 50 of us. There were no nametags, no name cards. He had clearly taken the time to look at the class photo book and learned each of our names and faces. I was impressed!
It has been nearly a decade and that experience is a hallmark for me in the impression and impact simply learning a name can have on the receiving end. While I aspire to be as good with names as Jim Hackett, I have a long way to go. What kind of impression do you want to make with others?