My new boss at NAU was John Glenn, the Dean of Continuing Education and a grandfatherly-like figure—and someone who I totally misread. I would come to find out that he was terrible towards his staff. He routinely took credit for all the good things we did, and quickly threw us under the bus whenever we made a mistake.
He really had a great staff working for him. People who deserved a better boss than him. During the two years I worked for him he only met with us as a group three times. We believed it was because he felt we’d gang up on him, and it was easier for him to intimidate us when one-on-one. Like any good staff, we felt the need to meet regularly to share what was happening, discuss issues, and see how we could help one another. So, we started having our own staff meetings every other week. I recall on two occasions we asked John to attend so he could explain a new policy or something. Amazingly, he refused. So when we met in our conference room, John remained in his office about 25 feet away. In fact, sitting at his desk he had a line-of-sight view of us in the conference room. (And, of course, we could see him sitting behind his desk.) How many bosses would refuse a request by his staff to meet with them?
Flagstaff averages 120 inches of snow in the winter. But, of course, the city and university are prepared for it. From my office window I had a view of the main city street. During a snowfall I’d watch a ballet-like operation take place. A city truck would move along scooping up the snow and shooting it into a dump truck moving in unison. A soon as that truck was full it would move on and another dump truck was right there to takes its place.
One day we had more snow coming down than I’ve ever seen. It snowed continuously for two days, ultimately totaling 21 inches. Now, NAU almost never closed because of the weather. On this day we were technically open. However, the reality was that there was almost nobody on campus. The parking lots were virtually empty—except for cars belonging to the Continuing Education staff. Our offices were in the same building as Human Resources. Except for a student worker manning the reception desk, everyone in HR had gone home by mid-afternoon. But not Continuing Education. We were still slaving away. Then, John Glenn, believing he was the most magnanimous boss ever, came around to us and said we should take off early and head home. Of course, it was 10 minutes till 5:00. What a guy!
Every day at 10:00 and 3:00 John went to the nearby Village Inn to have coffee with his buddies. That was sacred. It didn’t matter how important it was for you to meet with him, you couldn’t do it between 10-11 and 3-4. You could have blood spurting out of an artery and you couldn’t meet with him. Only the President and the Provost had the power to pull him away.