A silly executive decision


                           A silly executive decision 

            It was a successful respected electronic company that I frequently visited. The founder was chairman of the board and went to work  everyday. There was a president who had been with the company from the early days. Like most companies there was folklore and gossip. The gossip was the president sole role was to prevent the founder “ putting his fingers in the pie.”and causing chaos. The founder had a son who had an impressive title which I did not understand. The spoken  word was the son worked very hard and on my visits to the company he was visible. I also recall he was often paged inferring that he was some where in the company solving problems and was in demand by important people. The founder passed away and everyone was sad. The president decided to retire citing it was time to leave. A new president arrived a few months later presumably  after an exhaustive search. I heard the Lionsgate Films studios casting agency department would have been proud of the choice. Body language, voice clothes; the package! I never met him. Not many people did. The first order of business for him was to fire the founder’s son. A clever executive  decision the management workshop retreats would  cite. Get rid of a potential rival! Of course it was clear to all that the  founder’s son did nothing and the new president was  cleaning house. The grieving widow of the founder demanded an emergency board meeting. The outcome was  the  new  president was sent down the road and her son was reinstated. The new president had not checked who held most of the company’s shares. The founder’s wife held 70%.

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