The Chronicle’s Business blog / Jerry bellune

When he joined the Marine Corps, Robert Neller’s commanding officer named him president of the “I don’t see why” club. Neller questioned everything. That doesn’t go over well in the tradition-bound US Marines. They have done what they do successfully since George Washington was pruning cherry trees. “I was the guy tossing the metaphorical Molotov cocktail,” Gen. Neller admits. It took guts to be a contrarian. All of us in business need at least one. They are the ones with the guts to question our decisions, find chinks on our armor and save us from doing something stupid and expensive we might soon regret. I’ll bet you have at least one on your team at work and probably at home, too. Many of us are married to one. But count your blessings. They can save us from bad judgments and costly mistakes. The executives at SC Electric & Gas and Santee Cooper could have used a Robert Neller when they hired incompetent contractors to build a pair of multi-billion dollar nuclear reactors, They had no plan, no schedule nor penalties for cost overruns and expensive delays in finishing the job. How do you encourage contrarians? It’s not easy. Listen to and respect them.

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