After I facilitated a two-day leadership retreat for a national restaruant corporation, I asked the CEO for a letter of reference, and sent him a draft to work from. He sent a letter by e-mail, and I asked him to put it on letterhead. This is the text of his letter on corporate letterhead. He added a new paragraph at the end, but otherwise, my draft was unchanged.
August 05, 20—
William S. Frank
President/CEO
CareerLab
10475 Park Meadows Drive, STE 600
Lone Tree, CO 80124
Bill,
I'm writing to thank you for facilitating our recent leadership retreat. As you know, I felt that growing the company exponentially depended upon identifying our corporate values and imbedding them in the culture. This offsite was very important.
The two days were a remarkable success. We've crossed a threshold, broken through barriers we've not been able to penetrate. This is a huge step—the first time this company has managed to get something on a piece of paper.
After the two-day program, the senior management team said:
- I'm totally jazzed about our energy to get better.
- Momentum leaning forward.
- Jazzed about the amount of passion for the business and the brand.
- Everybody made a full commitment this morning.
Once again, Bill, thank you for helping us to remain focused and on track during the two days. The company and the senior team had attempted before to form and articulate its basic value structure but were unable to bring it to completion. I see this as the basis for our growth moving forward in all aspects of the company's relationships. I look forward to our continued association with your firm in the future.