Caption THIS 5/19/2015

[Suckrates]

[AdamSmith]

And for the discerning gentleman's home office, our Executive Desk Set

($400 per hour)

[BigK]

How big is your collateral?

[RA1]

It must be an executive's desk set. There is no sign of work materials or equipment (other than the comely lad).

Best regards,

RA1

[AdamSmith]

In fairness, the executives I've known who got the most done tended to have hardly anything on their desks.

One was a former Lehman Bros. chairman brought in to turn around a software company that my company was consulting to, and which this guy had invested in. My boss and I went to see this guy shortly after he started as CEO of this software company. We found him in a big office with nothing in it but his desk, his chair, his computer, and two visitors' chairs. He was playing solitaire on his computer. Which he continued doing absentmindedly as we talked with him for three hours straight, he in intense concentration, asking all the right questions about exactly what was wrong with the company and how to fix it. He did end up fixing it, too.

Likewise, some senior physicist at Los Alamos remarked on the change in Oppenheimer from when he taught physics at Berkeley and his office desk and tables were piled to the ceiling with papers. "But not at Los Alamos," this physicist recounted. "Never more than one piece of paper on his desk at a time, if that. At Los Alamos he was a clean-desk man. From the most impractical person you could imagine, he swiftly remade himself into a world-class director of this almost unimaginably complex organizational undertaking."

So I respect clean desks.

[RA1]

I understand that completely and do not disagree at all.

Best regards,

RA1

[axiom2001]

"This is one hell of a hot 'dog's view'!!!!!"

[Guest zipperzone]

In my 1st job the president of the company (one of many he owned) and who was on the board of directors of several more had a huge desk in a beautiful antique English pine panelled office. I never once saw as much as one piece of paper on it.

I once had the nerve to comment on that and asked him why.

His answer was - The mark of a true executive is one who never does anything himself he can get someone else to do for him"

[Guest zipperzone]

As for a caption:

I can understand the need for a written reference but I think this Personnel Manager is far too picky.

[lookin]

Insider sees speedy approval of the XXXL pipeline

[RA1]

I agree with Zip's definition of executive (also leader), at least during business hours.

However, when the owner of a small business tells me he wants to work smarter, not harder, I have to think he is only half right.

You have to do both.

Best regards,

RA1

[AdamSmith]

However, when the owner of a small business tells me he wants to work smarter, not harder, I have to think he is only half right.

You have to do both.

Agree. He is revealing he is both lazy and not bright.

If he really believes that, he will shortly find himself the owner of an even smaller business.

[MsGuy]

I've read that one of the biggest adjustments downsized executives have to make when they open their own business is the lack of flunkies ready to do the actual work.

When the dishwasher is a no show, you just got to pull on those rubber gloves and get to scrubbing.

[lookin]

I think a lot depends on the business. In the seventies, I was working in a fairly mature marketing business and got the best results by doing a lot of the grunt work myself and executing as well as I could.

In the early eighties, though, I found myself managing a sales team and retail operation in the PC business, right before IBM got into it. Unlike the stable business I had come from, this business was changing rapidly quarter-to-quarter.

I found the sales reps were down in the weeds making sure their product got ordered correctly, delivered, billed, and paid for, and so were my fellow managers. I told my folks I wanted no such responsibilities. In fact, I told them I wanted nothing to do at all. My job was to figure out where the business was going to be in three-six months and make sure we were ready for it. The only exception was sales calls which I would be delighted to make with them, as many as they wished.

I got a really good back office team and told the sales reps their entire focus should be on bringing in new customers and new orders and the operational team would take care of everything else. It took me a few weeks, but I eventually got them out of the back room.

When I first told them their jobs had just gotten simpler and that I personally wanted nothing at all to do but think, they laughed at me. Then they started making money.

[MsGuy]

Lookin, I don't want to put you to any trouble but, if you still have the contact information for the sales rep in the center, PM me.

Kind of cute, sorta reminds me of a young Peyton Manning.

[lookin]

In that job, I inherited one of the best looking guys I'd ever seen. He was wonderful to look at but, sadly, he wasn't cut out for the business and I had to help him realize that. It took a few months and I was grateful for every day.

[Suckrates]

Lookin, I don't want to put you to any trouble but, if you still have the contact information for the sales rep in the center, PM me.

Kind of cute, sorta reminds me of a young Peyton Manning.

I feel like eatting "Chinese" !