Taking A Stand: How can I join executive club?

I want to know what I have to do to become part of the executive class.

Is there some kind of secret ritual, some kind of secret society out there where people are promoted to the executive class? Have I simply missed the meeting where they detailed how you become an executive? Come on, I’m as smart or smarter than the next guy, have a go-getter attitude, obviously have great communication skills and think well on my feet. So why haven’t I got an executive’s job?

I mean executives have it great. About all they do is have meetings and make lots of money, filling positions which could easily be eliminated with no real impact on the company for which they work. Ask any regular office worker any where in the country and I think they’ll agree with me since it befuddles the working class how some people attain and keep leadership positions.

It seems like many times people are rewarded for being inept and downright lazy while the hard workers are always doomed to work long hours for low wages and little appreciation, only to be downsized while the executives are warned months in advance and given other good-paying jobs.

And, I haven’t even scratched the surface about executive privilege. The best thing about being an executive is once you’ve reached the executive class, you’re an executive for life. There’s nothing you can do to ever sink back down to the working class.

I’ve seen executives fail miserably and nearly ruin the businesses they worked for. I’ve seen executives go to prison for criminal acts. I’ve even seen executives get caught stealing from their bosses, yet they are hired somewhere else in an executive position, never losing those large executive wages and benefits.

Why? Because it’s a fraternity. Executives take care of executives like one big club. It’s a kind of rich boy insurance. If your buddy doesn’t have a job for you, they’ll make up a title and give you a desk if you need a job. We’ve all seen it. I can name about 10 people in Warren County off the top of my head who have been handed such executive courtesy.

Don’t get me wrong. I don’t have a problem with rich people. Most, yes I said most, wealthy folks have worked their fingers to the bone and made sacrifices all their lives to get where they are today. I greatly respect that.

However, what I don’t respect is people who get hired to high-paying positions despite having no real qualifications other than knowing someone who owns or runs the business. It’s folks like this in the executive elite who stop real workers from advancing upwards.

This is why you will work on the line somewhere for 30 years with little pay increase while some other guy gets the desk job that is rightfully yours after he was shipped out from his old job for one reason or another. In the business world, it’s not what you know, it’s who you know.

But, back to my first point. How does one get into an executive job in the first place? While I resent executive privilege, I’d love to be part of it so I could have a guaranteed economic future. I like working here, but if you have some cushy executive position to offer, give me a shout out and we’ll do lunch, all on your executive expense account of course.

Duane Sherrill is a reporter for the Standard. He can be reached at 473-2191 or by e-mail at [email protected].