One of the great privileges of being the publisher of the Northside Sun for 30 years has been getting to know the big time movers and shakers of Jackson.
Some I have known as good acquaintances. But many I have gotten to know personally, especially when they needed the Northside Sun to help achieve a community goal they supported.
One of those movers and shakers was Leland Speed, who passed away last week. To say he will be missed is a huge understatement.
There is a reason movers and shakers are movers and shakers. They move and shake. In doing so they touch an innumerable number of lives.
In the year 2008, I was desperate. I had taken on a huge amount of debt to keep the family newspaper company together when various relatives wanted to cash out.
The nation was undergoing a financial meltdown, the worst since the Great Depression. Banks were worried, advertisers had cut back, the Internet was rising and my profits were not enough to service my debt.
I picked up the phone and called Leland. He could hear the concern in my voice.
“Are you at your office,” he asked? When I said “yes,” he replied, “I’ll be there in ten minutes.”
Leland came in and shut the door. He then proceeded for the next three hours to tell me his business life story, full of close calls and panicked moments. “Don’t ever let them see you sweat,” he warned me.
“Buy nice clothes. Go on a vacation. Get a nice tan. Stay vigorous and healthy. You have to project an image of strength and confidence, even when you have none,” he said.
“Have you read, ‘A Man in Full’ by Thomas Wolfe?” Leland asked. I said yes. “Do you remember the part about the saddlebags?”
It’s a great scene from the book. The main character Charlie Croker, a successful real estate mogul, is invited to a breakfast meeting with his bankers. Little does he know, he is the prey. The bankers have planned in advance to lower the boom on Croker. It’s a game to see how long it will take to produce “saddlebags,” the huge stains of underarm sweat soaking through the Egyptian cotton pinpoint dress shirt of the victim, as he panics from the psychological assault.
Leland regaled me with stories and advice from his business career, especially all the times he was on the ropes and nearly faced ruin. All the times he hunkered down and persevered, finally to become a Mississippi business legend, founding not one, but two, Mississippi companies on the New York Stock Exchange.
At the end of our conversation he asked, “Are you covering your interest?” I said yes but not the principal payment. “What’s your interest coverage ratio?” I said about 1.5 to 1. Leland laughed. “Boy, that is nothing. I would have given my right arm for that back when I was on the ropes.”
After the pep talk was over, I walked him to the door. Leland beamed that huge smile that was so real and so infectious to everyone who witnessed it. “Remember, son, no saddlebags.” And he was gone.
From that moment on, I swore to myself that there would be no more self pity, no more moaning and groaning, no more bad attitude. I was going to project an image of absolute confidence, even if I was going down. If Leland could do it, then so could I.
Needless to say, since I am writing this column, I made it through. It wasn’t easy and there were close calls. There are still close calls, but Leland’s words kept me going. Had my father been alive, he would have given me the support I needed. But my father was gone and Leland stepped into his shoes for that afternoon and many more. For that, I will always remember Leland like a son remembers his father.
What is amazing though is that my story is just one story out of hundreds, thousands. Leland touched so many lives it is beyond count. My heart goes out to his family. When a man like that passes, it leaves a big hole. Don’t ever forget that we will all be reunited in heaven.
It is men like Leland who really define a city like Jackson. These powerful movers and shakers leave families who are rooted to their communities. These families become extended families who become the fundamental fabric of a community, giving it richness, character and history.
We seem to have two cultures in our country existing side by side. One is a corporate culture of promotion transfers and mobility. Individual allegiance is with a company or a career track. The individual city is of no significance other than a staging ground for the next career step up the ladder. I call that the mobility culture.
Then there is a rooted culture. These people are from a town, city or community. That is where their loyalty rests. That is what gives them their identity. They may change jobs or even careers, but they are rooted geographically.
I feel blessed that I have been able to put down roots and have a place called home. Part of the blessing is getting to know people like Leland Speed.
Speaking of culture, I am witnessing a certain negativity about our country and our culture that has increased over recent years. People are believing all sorts of conspiracy theories about powerful elites manipulating the system and doing bad things.
I have lived and worked for over five decades in this country and culture. Nobody has ever threatened me or tried to bribe me. I have criticized our local, state and federal government, sometimes vigorously, yet never has that led to retribution or coercion in any way at any level.
No thug or mobster has tried to bully his way into my business. My family has never been harmed or even threatened. I have had full freedom of speech, press, religion and travel. I consider myself a completely free man living in a free country surrounded by great people who are making a difference and pushing humanity forward.
Accordingly, I find all this negativity short sighted and unwarranted.
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
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