The Washington Post just reported that Robert Strange McNamara, Secretary of Defense under Presidents Kennedy and Johnson, died last night.  He was 93.

I met Secretary McNamara when I was a young man.  He was president of the World Bank at the time, and was speaking about the benefits of systems analysis in public policy.  In large measure, my interest in applying best practices across industries was born from that talk, and a few moments I had with him after the speech.

McNamara finished his MBA from Harvard in 1939, then went to work for Ford after the war.  He found a company in need of reform, and he and nine peers -- dubbed the Whiz Kids -- put a series of modern business practices in place at Ford, the theory of which are still in place today, McNamara was promoted into the role of president.  He was the first president to come from outside the Ford family, but he only served for a few months before the call came from President Kennedy.

Why will I miss Robert McNamara?  He was a great boss.  He was performance-measure driven.  He was very focused on spending appropriately, and sought strict standards of effectiveness and efficiency in the spending of defense dollars.  He was very focused on social equity - from racial and gender discrimination to poverty reduction to education and improved access to health care.

His life was a model for the things I wanted to achieve, and for some of the things I still want to achieve.  Men like McNamara don’t come around often.  When we’re blessed with their presence, we will feel their absence.

Thank you, Secretary McNamara.  I will miss you.