tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3276072416212541005.post1093990266169349984..comments2024-02-15T04:24:25.144-05:00Comments on Brown Man Thinking Hard: The CEO FallacyBrown Manhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02544490126803327515noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3276072416212541005.post-54773305295088655272008-12-11T08:33:00.000-05:002008-12-11T08:33:00.000-05:00"...you can take most mid-level managers with abov...<I>"...you can take most mid-level managers with above average intelligence and train them to run a company."</I><BR/><BR/>So true, but I've rarely seen it myself. Instead they hire their friends who nearly always didn't work their way up, and thus know the corporation or agency better. Or what's always baffled me, is that the nastiest, semi-competent people get highest jobs.Kit (Keep It Trill)https://www.blogger.com/profile/03027769872237001801noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3276072416212541005.post-35382516720509644052008-12-10T08:29:00.000-05:002008-12-10T08:29:00.000-05:00I didn't care about CEO's in the 80's because I wa...I didn't care about CEO's in the 80's because I was in college. English majors didn't get all hot and bothered about that kind of stuff.<BR/><BR/>But I needed a job in the 90's, so I got a Series 7 license to be a financial planner. When that didn't work out, I became a stockbroker, although schlockbroker was probably a more accurate term.<BR/><BR/>The CEO's I met, starting with the one from my own company, who has only been out of Club Fed for a few years now, were some of the slimiest motherfuckers you ever wanted to meet.<BR/><BR/>They looked the part, they assembled august sounding names on their boards, but if they needed that stock to move, they had no problem calling up our guy and telling him to start pumping that shit.<BR/><BR/>If they needed to sell a block of stock, then we had to go find a bunch of buyers so we could cross it out - basically, that means you match the buy and sell tickets so you don't make the market makers at other firms nervous enough about the volume to start dropping the bid.<BR/><BR/>I did a little business consulting after that for a couple of companies on the west coast - you would be amazed at what doesn't get into the required SEC filings the way it is supposed to.<BR/><BR/>Corporate governance isn't rocket science - I will stand by my earlier assertion that you can take most mid-level managers with above average intelligence and train them to run a company.<BR/><BR/>That's the whole ethos behind the executive development plan in these very companies we are talking about - recognizing talent and grooming it. What we see on the news conferences are the survivors.<BR/><BR/>But machismo doesn't run global enterprises anymore - that's the part that sticks in my craw. <BR/><BR/>A buddy of mine, who used to work for GE, brought up his beloved Jack Welch Monday when we were talking about this to try to explain how Jack would have solved the problem - I said, "dude, if Jack Welch had been black, with the exact same characteristics he had, he never would have made CEO." <BR/><BR/>A great CEO, and their are many who do extraordinary things for their companies, are still managers unless they originally owned the company, like Bill Gates did when he was CEO, or bought a controlling interest in it.<BR/><BR/>But there are far too many of them who are stock jobbers or incentive plan gamers, and quite a few who have mastered the art of fashioning exit strategies that will garner the most amount of loot with the least amount of results. <BR/><BR/>So for the record, I always thought these motherfuckers were overrated.Brown Manhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11975866612959886893noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3276072416212541005.post-89751758167393709962008-12-10T02:33:00.000-05:002008-12-10T02:33:00.000-05:00My only problem is that all of a sudden the CEO's ...My only problem is that all of a sudden the CEO's are bad guys. I could remember a time way back in the 80's when the yuppie was the in thing. I could remember it well because society was shaping the minds of the young such as myself to be a part of corporate America. Honestly, thats why I went to college. Gordon Greko was my idol. But somehow here in 2008 because we believe in "justice" these guys are bad guys?RiPPahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08876723972974044402noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3276072416212541005.post-74506567574420147922008-12-09T08:10:00.000-05:002008-12-09T08:10:00.000-05:00I've often wondered the same darn thing! Good piec...I've often wondered the same darn thing! Good piece!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com