Always Remembering the Human Dimension
Success in business doesn’t just fall out of a tree and hit you.
It’s built wide and deep. It depends on knowledge of the marketplace, but also on attention to detail. Most of all, it depends on identifying—and always remembering—the human dimension. It won’t work as a business unless it hits people in the right way, and gets them to open their wallets.
Abe Pollin lived these principles throughout his 60-plus years as a businessman in Washington. But he also lived them as a philanthropist.
He never made shallow, quickie, one-time donations. His were wide, deep and strategic. His always identified the human dimension. His always built a broad base, not just a snapshot of the donor in tomorrow’s Style section. Not surprisingly, Abe Pollin was a longtime donor to United Way of the National Capital Area—and a generous one.
As a member of UWNCA’s Tocqueville Society, he gave large, but he also gave across the spectrum of UWNCA’s hundreds of member agencies. Pollin was all about building a community, not a single cause. He long ago recognized UWNCA as a great vehicle through which to do that.
Pollin’s sports empire depended on attracting ticket-buyers of all kinds, from all across the metropolitan area. He did it very successfully. It was the same ground-level strategy that attracted him to UWNCA, and kept him attracted.
Pollin once told me that he knew that the social problems of the Washington metropolitan area were too big for any one non-profit to solve. So he gave to the organization that provides funds to dozens of them. Funded across the board, working together, these agencies have a far better chance of success than they’d ever have working separately. Pollin “got” that, throughout his life.
Nothing ever prevented Abe Pollin from writing a check to a single organization, and nothing prevents anyone else from doing the same. But if a rising tide lifts all boats, it does that double in the world of philanthropy.
Abe Pollin was a rising tide kind of guy. He always saw across the region, not just one organization and one street corner at a time.
Any man who fired Michael Jordan is a man who doesn’t doubt his own judgment. But as a philanthropist, Pollin knew that his judgment had to change, and change, and change again.
He was deeply and permanently in love with his adopted home town. But he knew that local social issues would always change. So would the organizations. So would the personalities. What better way to help the community solve problems new and old than to give to the one organization that has stood the test of time in local philanthropy?
Rest well, Mr. Pollin. Your example inspires all of us at UWNCA, and always will.
It’s built wide and deep. It depends on knowledge of the marketplace, but also on attention to detail. Most of all, it depends on identifying—and always remembering—the human dimension. It won’t work as a business unless it hits people in the right way, and gets them to open their wallets.
Abe Pollin lived these principles throughout his 60-plus years as a businessman in Washington. But he also lived them as a philanthropist.
He never made shallow, quickie, one-time donations. His were wide, deep and strategic. His always identified the human dimension. His always built a broad base, not just a snapshot of the donor in tomorrow’s Style section. Not surprisingly, Abe Pollin was a longtime donor to United Way of the National Capital Area—and a generous one.
As a member of UWNCA’s Tocqueville Society, he gave large, but he also gave across the spectrum of UWNCA’s hundreds of member agencies. Pollin was all about building a community, not a single cause. He long ago recognized UWNCA as a great vehicle through which to do that.
Pollin’s sports empire depended on attracting ticket-buyers of all kinds, from all across the metropolitan area. He did it very successfully. It was the same ground-level strategy that attracted him to UWNCA, and kept him attracted.
Pollin once told me that he knew that the social problems of the Washington metropolitan area were too big for any one non-profit to solve. So he gave to the organization that provides funds to dozens of them. Funded across the board, working together, these agencies have a far better chance of success than they’d ever have working separately. Pollin “got” that, throughout his life.
Nothing ever prevented Abe Pollin from writing a check to a single organization, and nothing prevents anyone else from doing the same. But if a rising tide lifts all boats, it does that double in the world of philanthropy.
Abe Pollin was a rising tide kind of guy. He always saw across the region, not just one organization and one street corner at a time.
Any man who fired Michael Jordan is a man who doesn’t doubt his own judgment. But as a philanthropist, Pollin knew that his judgment had to change, and change, and change again.
He was deeply and permanently in love with his adopted home town. But he knew that local social issues would always change. So would the organizations. So would the personalities. What better way to help the community solve problems new and old than to give to the one organization that has stood the test of time in local philanthropy?
Rest well, Mr. Pollin. Your example inspires all of us at UWNCA, and always will.
posted by Bob Levey's United Way at
10:23 AM
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