Corporate America

First, a picture of a 8 week old Raven and her big brother from about 4 years ago...

And now, on to my topic:
Corporate America really needs a shake up. There are far too many management positions out there that don’t need to exist. I worked at 6 different companies now, and this is the first one where I have actually had respect for the management of the company.

You’d like to think that the managers, directors, VPs, and General Managers of the companies would actually have some skills that make them better at guiding companies than your average person, but that doesn’t seem to be the case. Most people who want to manage seem to get a lucky break, be in the right place at the right time, or get a fancy piece of paper, like an MBA. It usually seems that those who are really good at their job are deemed too valuable to loose, so they get to keep doing their job, while those who do an average job but have a little drive get promoted up. Then, they make sure they kiss up to the right people, take credit for anything good that happens near them, and wear Teflon armor for anything bad that happens. Thus, they move up through the ranks of management.
Once they get to be something like a VP or CEO, they are pretty much going to hold that position or higher no matter how incompetent they are. Why? The reason that we are told is because of experience. Companies hire for experience. If you have 5 years experience as CEO of Widgetworks, you will be taken seriously you apply for a CEO position at another company. It doesn’t matter that Widgetworks almost went bankrupt under your steady guidance. Any half-whit can make it sound like all the good things were his initiatives, and all the bad things were from factors outside his control, and he ,now, has learned from those problems, and can prevent them in the future. Why if you are good enough at driving companies into the ground, you can even go as high as President of the United States.
What’s the real reason that once you get a manager position, you stay at that level or higher, no matter what? Management empathy. They recognize that they could be in the same boat as you someday, because there really are factors outside anyone’s control, and anyone could be looking for a new job someday. They figure that, “There, but for the grace of god, go I.” It’s basically a big good ole boys club.
This ends up locking down the class structure. Look at any very rich person’s kids. Chelsea Clinton, George W Bush, Aerin Lauder (the daughter of Estee Lauder, with whom I went to University). Chelsea is now working at a 6 figure job and will probably end up wherever she wants. George W Bush never proved himself, or earned his way up the career ladder, yet he ended up CEO of multiple companies, before he even got into politics. Aerin Lauder is being put in charge of a large division of Estee Lauder, Inc, and she never “worked her way up.” There are countless other examples.
America is called the land of opportunity, but it’s getting very hard for the standard rags to riches story to come true anymore. The rich get richer. The poor stay poor, and the middle class becomes poor.
Why are tax breaks and other incentives given to companies by the US government? Companies aren’t pro-US. They are pro-profit. If they ruin the US, but make huge profits, and end up just moving to another country, that’s fine with most corporations. The reason they get incentives, is because they give donations and jobs to the Senators and Congressmen , and have powerful lobbies.
It’s all inter-twined. How do we fix it? I don’t know, but something needs to change.

Claim to Fame

This is my wife, Suzanne, and me, with Jimmy Creegan, the basist for the Barenaked Ladies.
Jimmy is Suzanne's 2nd cousin, and they grew up visiting each other every now and then. When they come on tour in our area, we try to go see them and catch up with Jimmy. He usually gets us backstage passes.
The coolest time was a few years ago when they played at the Dean Dome in Chapel Hill. We were taken to a big back room, and all the friends/family/groupies of each band member was taken to a corner of the room with it's own couches and chairs, and when the band came out, each person came to see his own fan group. Then, they all rotated around to each group, so you got to meet each member of the band, and get autographs if you wanted.
It really seems that Jimmy has not let fame go to his head. He's always been very friendly and laid back when ever I've seen him. But anyways, that's my claim to fame.

Here I am in Bermuda, visiting friends on July 4th, 2006.



Here are some more pics, too...
Laying down is Keeper. He is about 8, and a black lab mix. Looking up to the left is our adorable dog, Raven. She's a 4 year old black lab.

Random musings

If we are in a war against terror, how will victory ever be declared? It seems Bush has granted himself all the powers of a war president without any time limit.
Congress should immediately recind any war powers until he defines the exact conditions necessary to declare victory. Then we will be able to determine if those are achievable. Instead, we end up with this theocratic dictator who is attempting to sieze more and more power.

By the way, everyone should read Kingdom Comming by Michelle Goldberg. It's an excellent discussion of how the Christian Right is trying to turn the US into a theocracy. It was interesting how she was talking about how they are using home schooling to try to create an alternate history of the US in which the framers of the Constitution meant for this to be a Christian nation, which, if you read any history, you will clearly see was not the case. Then, right after I finished reading this book, Katherine Harris in Florida, whom even the Republican party can't support because she's basically unelectable, was quoted saying how the Founding Fathers wanted this to be a Christian Nation, and if you vote for anyone other than a Christian, you are "legislating sin."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/25/AR2006082501640.html

Very interesting...

#1

This blog will probably be mostly empty. I'm mostly creating this so that I can comment on other people's blogs....