Mary Schmidt Marketing Troubleshooter

[To frame this post: A good friend called yesterday with the exciting news she’s got a great new high-level executive position. Her take-home pay will double. Her idea to celebrate - “Let’s go to brunch this weekend and then to Goodwill. I need some ‘new’ business clothes.”]

I’m working my way through How Executives Fail: 25 Surefire Recipes for Sabotaging Your Careerby Lee Thayer. Mr. Thayer notes that,

“People cling to the ‘theory’ of success as they’ve created it. And reject the possibility of any culpability for their failures. So, they really never understand either one. That’s how failure gets bred from success. Way to go! You can make it work for you if you simply practice taking credit for any success you may have, but blame others or blame ‘circumstances’ for your failures.”

(If you’ve never worked in BIG Corporate America - this book, along with the Dilbert canon, will give you a good idea of what it’s often like in there behind those glossy corporate logos and tall glass walls.)

And, then I chance across the Sunday New York Times article (via Kevin Salwen at Motto), The Richest of the Rich, Proud of The New Gilded Age. Since - history wonk that I am - I’m fascinated by the old Gilded Age, I dived in. Well, one thing’s for sure, that glorious sense of entitlement that the robber barons had way back when is still alive and well! The article starts off talking about Sanford I. Weill of Citigroup.

“People can look at the last 25 years and say this is an incredibly unique period of time,” Mr. Weill said. “We didn’t rely on somebody else to build what we built, and we shouldn’t rely on somebody else to provide all the services our society needs.”

All well and good. I’m a big believer in self-sufficiency and independence. But, just how much of the super success of the new barons is due to their talent, brains and “uniqueness”…and how much just being in the right place at the right time? (And - um - having a whole lotta political pull to get laws changed so you can form mega-companies.)

Then there’s Leo J. Hindery Jr. who compares his talent to that of Derek Jeter.

“I think there are people, including myself at certain times in my career,” Mr. Hindery said, “who because of their uniqueness warrant whatever the market will bear.” “Jeter makes an unbelievable amount of money,” said Mr. Hindery, who now manages a private equity fund, “but you look at him and you say, ‘Wow, I cannot find another ballplayer with that same set of skills.’ ”

(This, of course, assumes that sports stars should be paid piles of money. Hey, I think Beckham is gorgeous, but is he worth $250 Million playing soccer? Hmmm….)

Well, alrighty then, Leo! You don’t survive in the Master of The Universe wannabe race without a big ego, but…no lesser poobah than Paul Volcker, former Federal Reserve Board chairman, states,

“I don’t see a relationship between the extremes of income now and the performance of the economy,…The market did not go up because businessmen got so much smarter…adding that the 1950s and 1960s, which the new tycoons denigrate as bureaucratic and uninspiring, “were very good economic times and no one was making what they are making now.”

James D. Sinegal, chief executive of Costco, the discount retailer, echoes that sentiment.

“Obscene salaries send the wrong message through a company,” he said. “The message is that all brilliance emanates from the top; that the worker on the floor of the store or the factory is insignificant.”

And here’s what Robert Crandall, former CEO of American Airlines, says,

“The nation’s corporate chiefs would be living far less affluent lives, if fate had put them in, say, Uzbekistan instead of the United States, where they are the beneficiaries of a market system that rewards a few people in extraordinary ways and leaves others behind.”

But, enough already. You and I have lots to do today. Do go read the entire NYT article for yourself while sipping that first Friday libation. Lots of pros, cons, and justifications. Me - I’ll be sitting on my decidely non-palatial back patio, watching the bumbly bumblebees, drinking cocktails, and reading. May splurge and order a big ol’ plebian pizza. Then - yep - I’ll be going to brunch and then shopping at Goodwill this weekend. (Tip: You can buy great jeans at Goodwill for a fraction of what you pay for those “distressed” designer threads.)

My friend just called, laughing, “They’re going to think I’m a loon!” And that’s my point. We need more loons and less Leos.

Read More: Check out Mark Twain’s classic, The Gilded Age. Your local library probably has a copy. The more things change, the more they stay the same…You can also read it on-line for free.

Related Posts:
Make A Deal with the Universe
Martini Musing - The “If Only” Disease
The Friday Thought

If you enjoyed this soapboxer post, please go drop a few bucks at Greater Albuquerque Habitat for Humanity.

Tags: Gilded Age, success, Mary Schmidt