M I C H A E L  D.  B U R N S TWO THOUSAND OAKS TOWERS • 2000 WEST FEDERAL STREET BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02110 (617) 765-9898 March 22, 20-- Mr. Allen E. Tufts President Tufts Technical Services 660 Kirkville Road East Syracuse, New York 13057 Dear Allen: It was good to talk with you last week, but I am disappointed to see that our discussions are proceeding so slowly. From my side, I am eager to get to work and, as you might suspect, I have been pursuing a very active search. This search has developed several possibilities, but I keep thinking about your situation, which is such a good fit with what I do best, and I am reluctant to see it possibly closed off by a coincidence of timing rather than actual decision. It is my understanding that you are looking for someone who could provide strong assistance with day-to-day management responsibilities so that you could concentrate more on the longer-term issues. You feel you have assembled a strong group of people, whose only deficiency is a lack of broad management experience. This will come with time, but you need someone to help you right now. If this understanding is correct, I think I can provide you some real help. As you know, my management experience has been quite broad and varied, and at InTek I had a similar situation. Most of the department heads there were also in their early 30s and quite bright. It was a situation in which I served as both leader and teacher. I very much enjoyed doing this and along the way, we also built a very strong and aggressive organization. Please give these comments some serious thought, and I will phone you in early April when you are back from your trip. Best regards, Michael D. Burns

 

Author's Note: How do you rush someone without seeming pushy? You want to seem interested and excited, not desperate. Michael's letter succeeds. He is one of the rare senior executives who can actually write well. His campaign was full of well-worded letters. You'll see many of them in this book.

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