Big People
I learned a few minutes ago that Bambi Sheleg died.
Bambi was small in physical stature but big in all the ways that matter: Courageous, imaginative, humane, passionate, a believer in people and their capacity to work together to create a better world.
Bambi was not only a big person herself. She also had a good nose for bigness in others. I was reminded of this quality the last time I saw Bambi, when we interviewed candidates together for a leadership development program. After one such interview, she turned to me and said: “I know he seemed almost pathologically self-critical, but that one will move mountains.” I’m sure she was right. She would know.
I will miss Bambi’s rare combination of moral certainty and attentiveness to voices different to her own. I will miss her insight, her warmth, her energy and her optimism. But most of all, I will miss her bigness.
