After reading Jon Tevlin's Oct. 16 column about Wells Fargo's former chairman and CEO, John Stumpf — "Feigning ignorance a pattern for Stumpf," this following dozens of other media stories of unauthorized new accounts resulting from cross-sell pressure — I felt a need to offer a broader and more personal perspective.

Full disclosure: I have known John for 50 years, and know of the honest, hardworking Pierz, Minn., family from which he hails. From lugging milk buckets on the dairy farm back in the late 1960s to CEO of one of the largest and most profitable banks in the nation, his 35-year-plus banking career had been nothing short of stellar. And it included such accolades as "Banker of the Year" and "Executive of the Year." His is a rags-to-riches story of hard work and commitment.

Cross-sell practices, which Stumpf tried recently to articulate to members of congressional committees, are a win/win formula for businesses and customers when done properly. Businesses gain deeper penetration of products and services into customer households (making relationships more "sticky"), and customers gain access to those mutually agreed upon to meet their financial needs.

With five-minute limits set by committee chairs, our elected officials individually seized the opportunity to take Stumpf to the woodshed as they collected sound bites and video clips for their re-election campaigns. They gave him time for little more than yes/no answers.

As a customer and shareholder of Wells Fargo, I don't want the CEO to be well-versed in the intricacies of the incentive plans and sales strategies of entry-level/front-line salespersons. There are managers at many levels below his whose job it is to ensure that practices are in place, are functional, and consistent with the core values and ethical practices of the company. The CEO should be focused on strategy, innovation, reputation, growth and increasing shareholder value, to name a few. But we know where the buck stops.

In life and in business, none of us makes the right decisions every time, and the odds of this are diminished when you are running a heavily regulated $1.8 trillion asset company with more than 90 business units, 6,000-plus locations and 268,000 employees. While 2 million potentially unauthorized accounts generating $2.6 million in ill-gotten fees is significant, they were not "material" numbers within the financials of Wells Fargo and its regulatory reporting requirements.

One can fault Stumpf for underestimating the significant public-relations impact and resulting drop in Wells' market capitalization, which are material, but let's do it within the context of an otherwise amazing career that should appropriately define his legacy.

Ron Britz, of Blaine, is retired.