On occasion you will see a bright young MBA rapidly ascend the ranks of a public company. A star salesman, for example, will be put in charge of a regional office, becomes a product-line VP, then is promoted to Senior VP with an office back at headquarters, until finally he becomes a candidate for the big chair. Or she could initially be hired into the corporate planning staff, and on the strength of her brilliant white papers and oral presentations, be rotated into line positions to try to implement her ideas.
Unless he founded the company or his family owned a chunk of stock, a person with less than ten years of experience would never become the CEO of a major public company. There are too many things that will be new to him, and way too much learning that will have to occur on the job. Although he’s brilliant at Finance, it’s unlikely that he’s very familiar with what it takes to run a successful IT, legal, marketing, manufacturing, human resources, engineering, and customer service department.
You might take the risk on the bright young superstar if the company were in dire straits, and the ossified current management seemed to be at a loss for answers. As we go to the polls today, the media and campaign ads shout about the foreclosure / Iraq war / global warming / budget deficit / health care / illegal immigration / energy etc. etc. crises and we can’t help but feel bad about the way things are going.
But ask yourself, as one politician did decades ago, “Are you better off?” Tune the din out. How are you doing? How are your family, friends, and neighbors doing? If your life is at a point where you’re willing to give up what you have because the unknown has to be better, then fine, vote for change. Just understand that people who promise to change our lives, especially if they lack experience, can make them worse. © 2008 Stephen Yuen
[Update - 3:00 PM PST: Drew Carey's video questions whether the middle class' plight is as bad as everyone thinks.]
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