Some call GOP candidate effective, others cite penchant for self-promotion

ByEven as his bid for the Republican presidential nomination is dogged by allegations of sexual harassment when he was CEO of the National Restaurant Association, Herman Cain is remembered by many colleagues as a charismatic, dynamic trade group leader.

But his tenure, from 1996-99, gets mixed reviews from other former executives, who cited self-promotional tendencies and expressed differing assessments on how far he advanced the association.

Bill Fisher, Cain’s predecessor as NRA CEO, said that as a former corporate CEO (with Godfather’s Pizza), Cain was “used to calling the shots,” and seemed to find it difficult to adjust to an association leadership role, where deference to board and membership is required.

“My sense is that he just does not have the temperament to be an association executive,” Fisher said. “You have to deal with the board of directors; you have to get permission to make capital expenditures … It was not a comfortable fit for him.” Fisher led the NRA from 1972-77 and again from 1983-95. (The NRA CEO who replaced Cain, current National Association of Chain Drug Stores head, Steve Anderson, declined to comment.)
But in the view of Steve Caldeira, former senior vice president of communications and marketing of the group who is now president and CEO of the International Franchise Association, Cain was a highly successful CEO who increased the group’s effectiveness on Capitol Hill.

“The Herman Cain I worked for was a very incredible leader. He was very strategic and dynamic and helped turn the NRA into a lobbying powerhouse,” Caldeira said.

Observations from Fisher and Caldeira, as well as other former executives who spoke to CEO Update on condition of anonymity, came after Cain’s campaign became enmeshed this week in reports of sexual harassment complaints against Cain during his time as NRA’s CEO.

According to various media reports, two NRA employees filed harassment complaints against Cain, with one receiving a $35,000 settlement, and the other a $45,000 settlement. Reports of two other potential incidents surfaced; details in all four cases remain murky. The NRA has stayed mum on the story.

Cain has maintained that the allegations are baseless. “In all of my over 40 years of business experience, running businesses and corporations, I have never sexually harassed anyone,” Cain said during an event Monday at the National Press Club.

Association vs. self

In conversations with CEO Update, former NRA executives indicated they were not privy to Cain’s day-to-day behavior, and so could not categorically say the incidents did or did not happen.

“I will say that I never saw any miscreant behavior on his part when we were together,” said Fisher, who now teaches restaurant management at the University of Central Florida.

Even if the charges do have validity, the incidents did not become a major distraction to the association’s operations, one former NRA executive said. But this executive added that, in his own 20-plus years of working at different associations, he found that incidents involving male and female employees were not uncommon.
“It happens at lots of associations,” even to the point where “CEOs are dating staff,” the executive said.

But on the question of Cain as effective association manager, more than one NRA former executive touched on a perception that Cain was excessively self-promotional.

Fisher, for instance, related a story of Cain pushing to add audio/visual capabilities to the association’s auditorium, which ultimately cost more than $1 million. “Someone suggested he was beginning to feather his nest a little bit in terms of public speaking, and honing his skills to be a politician.”

“I can understand why people feel he was a self-promoter,” Fisher added, “but I also feel that, aside from being a spender, that he did have the best interests of the association in mind.”

Another former executive said Cain’s high profile helped the association’s advocacy efforts. When he became CEO, the group already had a few accomplished lobbyists, such as Elaine Graham and Lee Culpepper, who is now vice president of corporate affairs for Wal-Mart. (Both declined to comment for this article.). They continued to thrive when Cain was CEO, the executive said.

“He empowered people,” the executive said. “He didn’t micromanage. He knew he had good [staff with] talents.”