The Mitt I Know: I Remember

As I watched last week’s presidential debate, I noticed both candidates were wearing lapel pins of the flag of the United States of America.  As I saw these pins, I thought back to the pins the Olympic Committee commissioned to commemorate the tragedy of September 11, 2001.

Olympic pins are a big deal.  People like to buy and trade them and, in general are rabid collectors of Olympic pins.  As a result, a small Olympic pin with the United States flag and 9/11 printed were made.  We determined that these pins would sale for $5.00.

Leading up to the availability of these pins we held a press conference to announce the pins and give the details.  We had a date selected that the pins would go on sale and focused heavily on the $5.00 price.

On the day the pins went on sale, we set up a purchasing area on the first floor of the Olympic headquarters.  Most of the floor was empty and had not yet been built out so it was wide open and could allow for hundreds of people to be in the building at a  time.

The merchandising team roped off areas designating a line and had rows of cashiers set up to facilitate and speed the sales process so as many people as possible could get in and buy pins.

From a media perspective, we had arranged to have the local TV stations and local print media come cover the event.  Right from the get go there were hundreds and hundreds of people waiting on line to purchase these pins.  The media came and talked to patrons wanting to buy the pins and we had great stories coming out of the event.

As the sales process started it was slower than anticipated.  I was busy working with the media and at first didn’t realize how slow things were moving.  As I wrapped up with the media I began to hear rumblings of the wait.  About this time, Mitt Romney came down and walked into the room.  He was talking to people about the pins and some started complaining to him about the wait.

He went to the cashiers to investigate and was told that the actual price with taxes was $5.37 cents.  Nobody thought to calculate the cost of the taxes into the final price.  We had advertised and publicized the cost as $5.00 so people were showing up with exactly $5.00 or other $5.00 increments in the form of cash or written checks.  Some were buying pins for themselves and for family and friends and had pre-written checks.

The process of finding an extra $.37 cents was slowing the process down as people had to write new checks or check pockets and purses for extra money.  The cause of this slow down was spreading quickly and was frustrating just about every one of the hundreds of people waiting in line.

I remember thinking, “Oh great.  This isn’t going to end well.”

Just as I thought this, Mitt, without hesitation told the head of merchandising to simply charge $5.00 and that he would make up the difference.  He told them to keep track of how many were sold and to let him know the total.  The head of merchandising quickly went and told his team the news and the line immediately sped up.

Mitt didn’t make a big deal about this, but a few people at the head of the line heard this and cheered.  Mitt had other meetings and left.  Many people had no idea why the line sped up and were simply grateful the line had picked up again.

At the end of the day, I was with Mitt walking to his office for another media interview when the head of merchandising walked up and gave his assistant the final number of pins sold.  As Mitt and I walked up to his office, his assistant told him how many pins had sold.  Mitt quickly calculated in his head the amount he owed to cover the taxes for everybody and told his assistant which account to pull the money from.

I can’t remember how many pins sold that day or how much it cost Mitt, but I know it was thousands and thousands of pins.  I also remember hearing the number and almost asking for a calculator to figure out the cost.  Before I could even ask though, Mitt had already calculated the amount in his head and given his assistant payment instructions.

As Mitt walked into his office, I looked at his assistant and asked, “How did he calculate that so quickly?”  She looked at me, smiled and just shrugged her shoulders.  She said that kind of thing happens all the time.

That’s why I wasn’t surprised during the last presidential election when Mitt was able to bring up and calculate facts and figures so quickly.  In one instance the topic was education and President Obama said something and Mitt instantly came up with a number that was in the millions. I don’t doubt he knew that number in advance, but the ability to recall it, explain the number and use it in a way that effectively proved his point was not surprising to me.

As I’ve written about in previous blog entries, Mitt is incredibly intelligent.  I wouldn’t be surprised if he had a photographic memory to be honest.  His ability to think on his feet, communicate effectively and be decisive always impressed me both in situations at the Olympic Committee and in high-pressure situations such as the last presidential debate.

Author: Jeremy Kartchner | Google+

The Mitt I Know – Rivalry Week

Here in Utah, we just celebrated rivalry week with the University of Utah playing BYU for the 94^th time.  This game was great and sad all at once.  It was great because my team, the University of Utah won and sad because this will be one of the last games with longtime rival BYU.  The teams will play each other in 2013, will skip 2014 and 2015 and play again in 2016 and then after that who knows when or how often the two teams will play each other.

It used to be that this game was always the last game of the season but due to Utah joining the PAC 12 Conference and BYU going independent the game was moved up this year.  Regardless of record this game is always intense and sets the tone for bragging rights within the state for the next year.  If one team is struggling, beating your biggest and most fierce rival can usually salvage the season.

I remember when the game came up in 2000 while I was working at the Olympic Committee with Mitt Romney.  I’m not a big BYU hater.  I want Utah to win but don’t have any hatred for BYU.  I don’t hope for them to lose on the weeks they’re not playing Utah either.

Mitt Romney did his undergraduate work at BYU.  I got my degree from the University of Utah.  I knew he had attended BYU but had never said anything to him about the rivalry and had never mentioned that I attended the University of Utah.

The Friday before the game, I was coming back to my desk and saw a sticker taped to my computer screen.  As I approached the screen I noticed it was a University of Utah sticker that said “My favorite teams are Utah and whoever’s playing BYU.”

I looked at it and started to laugh.  As I wondered who put this sticker on my desk, I looked up and down the rows of cubicles and at one end saw Mitt Romney kind of hiding and watching me.  I asked if he had put the sticker there and he laughed and admitted that he had.   With that he walked away laughing.

I remember thinking to myself, “How did he know I was a Utah fan?”  I was equally impressed that he not only knew but that he took the time to find or buy the sticker and then selected me to give it to.

I can’t remember if Utah won that year or any details about the game, but I remember how cool I thought it was that Mitt knew I was a Utah fan and that he took the time to get involved with me in this rivalry.  I believe its important to have fun at work and not get caught up in or expect employees to just show up to work everyday, punch the clock and spend the next eight to ten hours focused entirely on work.  I read a great article in Forbes by my friend Ty Kiisel about the importance of company culture. In his weekly column, Ty brings up four points to help businesses build a company culture that fosters creative problem solving, employee longevity, and greater employee productivity.

By taking the time to engage with me in rivalry week, Mitt demonstrated that he understood that company culture is critical to organizational success and that by taking the time to do this he was creating a more positive company culture. This was one of many examples of him participating in these types of activities and it showed me that he was committed to crating an environment where employees wanted to step up and perform at a higher level.

Author: Jeremy Kartchner | Google+

The Mitt I Know: God Bless America

I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to spend a couple weeks on the Olympic Torch Relay leading up to the Opening Ceremonies.  I started my stretch on the Torch Relay in Nashville, Tennessee and spent the next two weeks or so following the Torch relay and working with the media in cities from Nashville to New York City.

While In New York City, the Torch was going to board a ferry and ride past the Statue of Liberty.  I had the honor of being on the ferry along with Mitt and 25 or so family members of police and firemen that gave their lives on September 11, 2001.

The set up for this event started well before the evening of December 23, 2011 when all these people joined me on the ferry for our ride past the Statue of Liberty.  I began my day early on the pier making sure everything was set up and ready for the families and Mitt’s arrival with the torch later that evening.

As we got closer to the ferry ride that evening, the anticipation and excitement grew.  That excitement continued to grow as the family members arrived at the doc.  As we waited for the Torch to arrive Mitt arrived.  He took the time to meet, shake hands with and talk to each of the family members.  What struck me was his genuine concern and interest for each of the families.  He never looked rushed while talking to the families and talked to each one for as long as they wanted.  He listened and more than anything cared.

Once the Torch arrived, we boarded the ferry and headed out to the to the Stature of Liberty.  Once we arrived at the given point near the ferry Mitt read each family members name who had given their lives during the attack on September 11^th.  As he read each of their names, the family member held the torch and then would pass it to the next family member.

Once all the names were read the entire group huddled together and all held the torch together.  There was a moment of silence accompanied by tears as people remembered and honored those who gave their lives on that tragic day.  A lone voice singing God Bless America broke the silence.  I remember hearing the singing and at first I couldn’t understand what was being said or who was singing.

As I looked around to try and see who was singing I saw that it was Mitt.  As I discovered who it was the families all joined in signing God Bless America.  It didn’t take long for the few dry eyes that were left to moisten with tears as the singing continued.  It also didn’t take long before everybody on that ferry was singing along with Mitt and the families.

After the song and as the ferry headed back to the pier to continue its journey through the Times Square there were more conversations and memories of loved ones shared and hugs exchanged.

I remember being impressed at how attentive Mitt was to each of the family members.  I think many would expect that the CEO of a major organization like the Olympic Committee, in the middle of a major project wouldn’t have time or even give a thought to others., but Mitt is different.  He never checked his watch and you would have thought that he had all the time in the world and not a care in the world or another place to be that night.  From what I saw and people experienced that night, he had all the time in the world that night. This instance wasn’t the first time or the last time I saw the characteristic from Mitt.

In a previous blog entry, I wrote how I always told people that Mitt was better than he appeared to be on TV or in interviews.  This is one of the traits that always felt made him stand out and made him better than he appeared.  It’s something you can’t see in a TV interview but once you had the chance to talk to and be around the man you could see it in just about every interaction.  Some people are good at appearances or giving off the impression that they care or are interested in somebody, but with Mitt it was never an act.

Author: Jeremy Kartchner | Google+

The Mitt I Know: Take Me Out To The Ballgame

With the MBL All-Star game tonight, it reminded me of the time I arranged for Mitt Romney to throw out the first pitch at a Yankees game.

I knew Mitt was going to be in Washington, D.C. and New York City and that the day he was flying from D.C. to New York he had a free evening.  The cool thing about Mitt was that he was always willing and eager to do things if we could make a good recommendation.

Knowing that he had a free evening, I decided to check the Yankees’ schedule to see if they were going to be in town.  I thought it would be cool to have Mitt at the game and even cooler to have him throw out the first pitch.  I figured we could use it as a way to talk about and promote our upcoming Olympic ticket sales.

My boss, Carline Shaw told me to go for it.  So, I did.  I worked with one of our consultants in New York City to find out how I cold set this up.  As it turns out, the late George Steinbrenner approved all of these requests personally so we had to draft a letter to Mr. Steinbrenner with all the details of our request, including the proposed date, an explanation of why we were making the request and who would be throwing out the first pitch.

We wrote the letter to Mr. Steinbrenner making our request and within a few days received confirmation that our request had been approved.  We were thrilled and decided that we weren’t going to just e-mail or tell Mitt about it but that we should find a creative and fun way to let him know.

Caroline and I decided that me and another colleague, Mark Walker would stand in the Atrium on the 13^th floor, just outside Mitt’s office and play catch with our gloves and a baseball.  We also bought and wore New York Yankees hats.  Caroline was going to go get Mitt and bring him into the Atrium for a bogus meeting.  When he walked out with Caroline we knew he’d see us and ask us what we were doing.  Once he asked what we were doing, we were going to tell him we were there to warm him up for the big game. From there Mitt would obviously be confused and we would explain that he would be throwing out the first pitch at an upcoming Yankees game.

We were all excited about this and as Mark and I played catch in the Atrium waiting for Mitt we must have had 50 or so people walk past and ask us what we were doing.  We told them we were playing catch, duh.  We also had a number of people tell us to be careful and not to break anything.

As Mitt walked into the Atrium he was talking to Caroline, he saw us, smiled and kept talking.  He stopped mid conversation, did a double take and asked us what we were doing?  When we told him we were there to warm him up he got a confused look on his face and you could tell he wasn’t sure what we had said.  He asked us again what we were doing and again we told him we were there to warm him up.  This time I think he realized that he had heard us correctly the first time and asked, “Warm me up for what?”

We told him for the Yankees game and explained that he was going to throw out the first pitch at the Yankees game on his upcoming trip to New York.  A look of horror overcame his face as he heard what we told him.

We told him the date and that we had set it all up.  We also explained that the Yankees would introduce him and say that he was in town to promote Olympic ticket sales and give fans the Website address where they could go to get more details and to buy tickets.  None of this news helped Mitt feel better.  In fact, I think he was still waiting for us to tell him that it was a joke.

We started to wonder if it was simply nervousness about not being able to throw the ball from the pitchers mound to home plate and were telling him he could scoot up if he needed to.  That’s when he told us that it wasn’t that, but rather that he had hurt his shoulder years earlier and ever since hadn’t had the proper rotation to throw like he once could.

Uh-oh!

We decided that we would work with Mitt over the next several days to warm him up and help him practice for the big day.  We went outside our offices and measured the official distance between a pitchers mound and home plate and helped him stretch to get ready to throw.  Mitt began throwing and did fine to be honest.  I thought it would be awful based on what he had told us, but he threw very well.

We did this practice routine a couple of times leading up to his trip.  The night he was scheduled to throw out the first pitch was September 11, 2001.  Mitt never made it to New York.  He got stuck in Washington, DC for several days as our country was stunned and scrambling to recover from and make sense of the al Qaeda  terrorist attack.

The attacks on the United States were a scary time.  In my next blog entry I’ll write about some of the things that were going on at the Olympic committee as well as how Mitt handled the situation from a local, national and global perspective as the leader of the 2002 Olympic Winter Games.

Even though it never happened, a couple of things stick out in my mind from arranging for Mitt to throw out the first pitch at that Yankees game.   First, Mitt’s willingness to do what it takes to accomplish the goal.  We didn’t check with him in advance before arranging for him to throw the first pitch out.  We knew from previous experience with Mitt that if we proposed something that made sense and helped further the goals that Mitt would do it.

Secondly, and more importantly, I was impressed by Mitt’s attitude and determination about doing something he wasn’t comfortable with and finding a way to make it happen.

Charles Swindoll, the evangelical Christian pastor, author, educator, radio preacher and Founder of Insight for Living said, “The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, the education, the money, than circumstances, than failure, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a company… a church… a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice everyday regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past… we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude. I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% of how I react to it. And so it is with you… we are in charge of our Attitudes.”

Mitt was surprised by the opportunity and nervous about throwing out the first pitch, mainly due to a previous injury, but he wouldn’t let that be an excuse.  He worked hard to prepare himself to do what needed to be done.  He was willing and able to do what we had arranged for him and had the attitude that it didn’t matter if it took him out of his comfort zone.  He understood the benefit this opportunity brought to the Salt Lake Organizing Committee and was wide open to it.

This attitude will serve him well and in my opinion makes him the ideal candidate to be the next President of the United States.

Author: Jeremy Kartchner | Google+

The Mitt I Know: Is He Really As Good As He Appears To Be?

One of the first things people asked me once they found out I worked for the Olympic Committee was whether or not I knew Mitt Romney.  When I told them that I did, they usually wanted me to explain (prove) how I knew him.

I would explain that I worked in the media relations department and that I coordinated all the press conferences and set up media interviews for Mitt.

Once I had sufficiently proved that I knew him, I would always get the same question, “Is Mitt really as good as he appears to be?”

In response, I would always smile and look around like I had a secret to tell.  I’d look the person in the eye and say, “No.”

I’d always get the same response, a gasp like I had just revealed some hidden secret or a juicy piece of gossip.  Then, just as the person looked as if they were settling in for the whole scoop, I would finish by saying, “He’s better than he appears to be.”

The completion of my answer would always draw another gasp, this time, one of disappointment.

It seemed like quite often, people were hoping to uncover something on Mitt that would make him look bad or seem like he wasn’t as good or talented as he was.  In my experiences with Mitt, that never happened.  It seems like today, as he’s running for President, people are still looking for ways to tear him down or make him appear less than he is.

It’s unfortunate really.  I believe that if people would spend less time looking for things to discredit Mitt and instead focus on how his talent, skill, experience and intelligence could benefit the United States they would find a tremendous leader that is more than capable of helping strengthen our economy and create new jobs.

Author: Jeremy Kartchner | Google+

The Mitt I Know: Cloudy With A Chance Of…Brilliance

In my last blog entry, I told the story about Mitt and his performance at two press conferences explaining and handling the collapse of he Olympic Speedskating Oval’s roof.  In a later press conference to announce the Olympic Weather Forecasting team Mitt amazed me again

I oversaw the Weather Forecasting function for our PR department and for this announcement, I was in charge of organizing the press conference.  I did all the usual things, including booking the venue for the press conference, coordinating with the key participants and drafting the press release announcing the team.

In a side note, I’ve always thought it would be cool to be a Weather person.  I mean, come on, where else can you be wrong more than half the time and still have people keep coming back to hear what you have to say?

In drafting the press release, I made up a quote for Mitt.  This was not an unusual occurrence as we regularly did this.  We would always run it past Mitt for approval so he could edit or change it to his liking but many times we would simply draft a quote for him and others that were quoted in press releases.

For this release, Mitt didn’t have a chance to review or see it prior to the press conference so I scheduled some time with his assistance, Donna Tillery to sit down with him prior to the press conference to let him see and approve the quote and review key details of the announcement and press conference.

As I arrived at his office for our meeting he was conducting another meeting.  He saw me arrive, smiled and kept going with his meeting.  I sat and waited and became more and more nervous as we got closer and closer to the press conference start time.  I new Mitt well enough at this point to know that he undoubtedly knew more about the Weather Forecasting team and function than I did but I wanted to make sure he had a chance to review the press release and answer any last minute questions he might have.

With about 3 minutes before the start of the press conference Mitt ended his meeting.  He walked out of his office, said hi and kept walking to the Atrium where we were conducting the press conference.  From Mitt’s office to the Atrium it was maybe 100 yards and at the rate Mitt always speed walks would only take Mitt about 15 seconds to reach the Atrium.

As I hurried to keep pace with Mitt, I handed him the press release.  He said thank you, looked at it and almost immediately handed it back to me.  As he asked if all the key participants and team members were already in the Atrium, I said yes while thinking to myself, “At least read the release.”

By this point we reached the Atrium and Mitt walked up and started the press conference.  As he spoke, I was standing off to the side listening when he talked about the Weather Forecasting team and said word-for-word the quote I had made up for him.  My jaw about hit the ground.  I know he had never seen the release until I handed it to him and I have no idea how he read it so quickly.  Like I said, when he handed it back to me I was thinking to myself, “Thanks for reading that.”  Nevertheless, he quoted it word-for-word and continued on with the press conference, introduced the Weather Forecasting team and answered questions about the importance of the team and their role during the Games.

I walked away from that press conference convinced that Mitt is simply brilliant and very well may be a genius.

Author: Jeremy Kartchner | Google+

The Mitt I Know: Are You Art Vandelay, The Architect?

One of the first significant events I remember participating in after starting with the Salt Lake Organizing Committee (SLOC) was the collapse of the Olympic Speedskating Oval while still under construction.  I was out of the office and got a call from my boss, Caroline Shaw, the Chief Communications Officer asking me to come pick her up.

Shaw was at the office and as I pulled up to the building she met me at the curb.  I hadn’t heard yet about the roof collapsing at the Speedskating Oval and when I pulled up I said hi and started asking her how she was doing.  As I did this, I realized she was on the phone.  She climbed in the car and as she talked it became readily apparent that something was wrong.

She paused her phone conversation and told me to head to the Speedskating Oval.  On the drive there, while listening to her phone conversation I was able to piece together that there had been an accident on the construction site and that the roof had collapsed.    Shaw was receiving reports on the severity of the damage, but it wasn’t until we arrived onsite that we got a full appreciation for what happened.

A few hours that later, after gathering some preliminary information and data, we held a press conference to confirm reports that the roof had collapsed.  We were honest about the collapse and were honest about the fact that we didn’t know exactly why yet, but that we would investigate what happened and get back to them with an explanation what happened as well as the solution for fixing the problem.

Those details took a couple of days to piece together, but nevertheless, a few days later we held a press conference to address the media and explain the who, what where, when and why the roof collapsed.

I wasn’t privy to any of this information and was just as eager as the media to hear the explanation.  As the press conference started and Mitt Romney stood alone at the podium I remember being a little surprised that there weren’t any members of the engineering team there to join him.  I did notice several members of the engineering team sitting in the audience near the front row and figured they were “on call” to help explain what happened.

As Mitt started the press conference he went right into an explanation of what happened.  He described in detail what happened and then proceeded to explain what was going to be done to correct the problem and finish the construction of the Speedskating Oval on time and on budget.  As he explained the situation, he used a number of engineering and architectural terms and sounded as if he himself were an engineer or architect.  He even had a large drawing pad of paper, similar to the ones used in the game show Pictionary that he used to draw and demonstrate what happened and to illustrate the building concepts that would fix the problem.

I remember vividly thinking to myself, “how does he know all of this?”

As I sat there thinking this we opened the press conference up to questions from the media.  As Mitt answered questions form the media, at one point after a detailed explanation he turned to one of the engineers, Grant Thomas and asked if he had explained the concept properly.  Thomas could only smile as he said that yes, he had explained it perfectly.  Mitt did that one other time, turning to Thomas for confirmation that he had explained something accurately and Thomas did the same thing, smiled and confirmed that he had indeed answered the question correctly.

Mitt stood there answering questions and explaining in intimate detail how everything happened and how we were going to fix it for nearly an hour with only minor involvement from the experts on the engineering team.

I don’t know how much time he spent with the engineers prior to the press conference but I do know this, Mitt was always willing and able to do whatever it took to gain the knowledge necessary to make the right decisions that would lead to ultimate success for the Games.  When he first came onboard as CEO of SLOC, he would spent as many as 18-20 hours a day reading materials about the Organizing Committee and pouring over reports so he knew everything there was to now about the Organizing Committee so he could formulate his strategy to ensure that the Games would be a success.

That dedication, coupled with his superior intellect enabled him to do what needed to be done to save the Games and turn them into the smashing success they were.  This dedication and drive is also what will enable Mitt to develop and implement the strategy necessary to turn around the economic woes facing this nation and lead the country into prosperity during the next four and hopefully eight years.

Author: Jeremy Kartchner | Google+

The Mitt I Know: “Hi, Jeremy.” This Guy Remembers My Name?

On my first day as an employee with the Salt Lake Organizing Committee (SLOC) I was introduced to Mitt Romney.  We shook hands and Mitt welcomed me to the team.  The entire interaction lasted a couple minutes tops.

Later that week as I was sitting at my desk I heard somebody say “Hello,” and turned around to see Mitt walking past my desk.  I returned the hello and was surprised that Mitt remembered my name.  After all, I was a nobody, and a new nobody at that. I hadn’t really had any real interaction with Mitt yet.   I sat there thinking about it for a minute and thought he must have seen my name posted on my cubicle wall.

A few days later I was walking back to my desk from a meeting and saw Mitt coming down the hall towards me.  Before I could say hello he smiled and said, “Hi, Jeremy.”  I again returned the hello and was surprised that he remembered my name.  This time I was certain he remembered my name because there was no name badge on my cubicle wall to remind him of who I was and I wasn’t wearing a name badge either.

I remember being impressed that he recalled my name.  As CEO of SLOC, I naturally thought he had other, more important things to remember or think about.  As I worked with him and spent more time with him, I quickly came to realize that he was very personable and really took the time to remember peoples names and get to know the people he worked and associated with (including partners and the media).  It wasn’t uncommon for him to meet somebody only once and call them by name the next time he saw them—even if there was a long period of time between meetings.

After the Games, when Mitt wrote and published his book Turnaround, he held a book signing party here in Salt Lake City for former SLOC employees.  I attended. As I waited in line, I talked to a former colleague and reminisced about our days at SLOC.  As we got closer to where Mitt was sitting, our discussion turned to whether or not Mitt would remember us.

As we walked up to the table, books in hand, Mitt looked up, saw us, smiled and called us both by name.  Mitt personalized his signing of our books and chatted with us for a few minutes about “the good old days.”  His greeting that day made it feel as if the Games had never ended and we had still been working together every day (even though it had been nearly two years since the Games ended).

Something as simple as remembering your name may not sound like much, but to me it showed that Mitt cared and took the time and effort to pay attention to even the little details.  I’ve worked with other business leaders since working with Mitt and have been surprised at just how many times they can’t remember employees names or butcher the pronunciation of their names.  The saying goes, “the devil is in the details,” and that attention to detail says a lot about a man.  I believe that to be true and believe Mitt’s commitment to detail will be a tremendous asset to our country should he become our next President.

Author: Jeremy Kartchner | Google+

The Mitt I Know: Romney Out Fundraises President Obama

I read an interesting article the other day about Mitt Romney and his campaign fundraising success.  The article said Romney raised $77 million in May, outdoing President Obama’s $60 million for the same month.

My first response was that I wasn’t surprised by the amount or the fact that Mitt had raised more money that President Obama.  Here’s why.

I remember Mark Lewis, the head of the Salt Lake Organizing Committee’s (SLOC’s) sponsorship division telling a story about his efforts to try and sign sponsors up for the Games.  He said he was hitting all the usual suspects up and was having a difficult time, in fact, a more difficult time than he expected getting appointments but more importantly getting any big companies to commit as sponsors of the Games.

When Mitt came on as CEO of the Organizing Committee that all changed.  Lewis told me how vividly he remembers his first potential sponsor meeting with Mitt.  Lewis said they walked into the meeting, exchanged the usual pleasantries and when it was time to get down to business Mitt looked across at the CEO and spoke to him CEO-to-CEO and briefly outlined what being an Olympic sponsor would mean to his business.  The man looked back and Mitt and committed on the spot.  This CEO knew of Mitt’s business reputation and his success in turning businesses around.  When Mitt said it would add value to his business and explained why, that’s all this CEO needed to hear.

Lewis was thrilled to have secured this business as a major sponsor of the Games but at the same time sat there in disbelief marveling at how quickly Mitt was able to close the deal when he had spent so much time and energy trying to convince this CEO to sponsor the Games.

Mitt accompanied Lewis on other sponsor pitches, but once the first couple sponsors committed and people saw what Mitt was doing, Lewis’s job became significantly easier and as we now all know, the Games had an abundance of great sponsors.

In my opinion, Mitt will always be able to raise money.  His reputation alone is all many top executives need to write a check.  It’s this reputation that I believe sets Mitt apart from President Obama and that will enable him to successfully turn our country around through the creation of new businesses and new jobs.

Author: Jeremy Kartchner | Google+