# What is up with executive worship in Corporate America? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 7, 2010, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-up-with-executive-worship-in-corporate-america/524031 "2010-01-07T15:27:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2010, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-up-with-executive-worship-in-corporate-america/524031/21 "2010-01-07T21:04:35Z")
> [@muldoonthief](#): > > I think the OP was complaining that his boss was worshipping the VP who was coming down for the 3 hour meeting. If you have a regular meeting, and someone forgets a whiteboard, everyone chats for 2 minutes while someone goes and gets one. If you have a meeting with a Vice President, the absence of the whiteboard is noted by the august personage, and repercussions will be felt. For some reason I thought the VP was the boss. I see now. 2 means 10 minutes. Then another 5 minutes to get everyone back on track. Now the meeting is running 15 minutes late. People generally don’t like having their time wasted. Especially busy, important people. > [@kingbighair](#): > > They are pack leaders. People love recognition from pack leaders among their peers. And if you follow the rules of the group, you might become a leader one day. Not everyone wants to be the leader. But most people want the benefit of being part of the group. The problem is when people want the benefit but they don’t understand their role or choose not to participate. > [@Agent Foxtrot](#): > > For this entire week, she harangued me almost hourly. “Did you get the menus?” “Did you get the orders?” “Is everything faxed?” Did you ask [my other boss] for the corporate credit card?" “Do I need to ask him for you?” Everything is fine… it wasn’t a difficult job taking the orders. > > I was, however, busy with other things when the VP’s assistant called me an hour ago to ask for a whiteboard for the meeting. As I had my attentions in, y’know, managing my office, the whiteboard completely slipped my mind. I noticed you don’t like to be harangued, but you forgot to do the one thing she didn’t harangue you about. > [@Agent Foxtrot](#): > > Never embarrass an executive, even if he said something completely stupid. Why would you want to embarass anyone, even if they said something stupid? > [@Agent Foxtrot](#): > > Never dress better than an executive. Is that a common issue where you work? > [@Agent Foxtrot](#): > > If you and the executive are walking toward each other, get the hell out of the way. I usually block the hallway and scream NONE SHALL PASS!! at him. ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2010, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-up-with-executive-worship-in-corporate-america/524031/22 "2010-01-07T22:23:56Z")
> [@Agent\_Foxtrot](#): > > But this sort of reverence isn’t found in Europe or other industrialized countries. It isn’t? I work in a U.S. office of a European company, and when our European bosses visit, we do the same kind of thing. ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2010, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-up-with-executive-worship-in-corporate-america/524031/23 "2010-01-08T02:22:59Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > I usually block the hallway and scream NONE SHALL PASS!! at him. Wuss. I usually give them a manly trouncing to let them know who the REAL boss is. hh ---
**Author:** ![SomeBodyUK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@SomeBodyUK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SomeBodyUK)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2010, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-up-with-executive-worship-in-corporate-america/524031/24 "2010-01-08T04:04:19Z")
> [@Dangerosa](#): > > By not providing something as simple as the whiteboard the exec asked for, your boss could potentially be seen as incompetent by someone responsible for her career. If she can’t handle the simple things - like a damned whiteboard, who is going to trust her with the big projects that will get her promoted (or keep her employed)? As a manager, her job is to make sure her team performs. You didn’t. The exec may now associate you boss with “unable to manage resources.” Totally agree with this - the boss doesn’t want to look incompetent in front of the VP. I work in a corporate office of a US firm and I deal with VPs on a regular basis - in fact I don’t deal with anybody below them unless they ask me to. I treat them just the same as everybody else. My fear is trying to make small talk with guys who are 20+ years older than me & who work in an industry that I have no personal interest in. I don’t really have much in common with them so I tend to stick to work related topics, unless they ask me something about my background (I’m British). ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2010, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-up-with-executive-worship-in-corporate-america/524031/25 "2010-01-08T04:22:09Z")
BTW, I work pretty extensively with guys in the Far East…seems to be worse there. (and I read manly trouncing as manly touching, and pictured walking down the hall and grabbing the VP in the crotch) ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2010, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-up-with-executive-worship-in-corporate-america/524031/26 "2010-01-08T05:11:48Z")
When The Grand Poobah was expected to make his annual appearance in the office, our manager gave us the heads up, with instructions to be sure our work areas and ourselves appear neat and professional. (“Put away the coffee mugs emblazoned with “you don’t have to be crazy to work here, but it helps”. And please please, make sure your shoes are on your feet at all times, you dumb bitches.”) Oh God, I remember our slavedriving, toxic, type-A VP conscripted me on short notice to take minutes at The Big Annual Meeting (because his own secretary of 20 years was out). I was literally shaking in my boots. I did my best, but I swear I suffered PTSD months afterwards. ---
**Author:** ![Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/try2b_comprehensive/32/65_2.png) [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Try2B_Comprehensive)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2010, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-up-with-executive-worship-in-corporate-america/524031/27 "2010-01-08T05:33:58Z")
Meh. I asked for the job and figure I ought to play along. My bosses seem to be respectable and competent, so this isn’t a terrible chore for me. But then again, I don’t have to deal with the kind of situations I’m seeing in this thread. ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2010, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-up-with-executive-worship-in-corporate-america/524031/28 "2010-01-08T06:54:12Z")
I treat the big boss with professional courtesy, same as I do any other co-worker. Whether I engage in good-natured bantering with them depends on how often I see him or her. Those who fall all over themselves like Basil Fawlty before the gentry at the sight of the higher-ups, at first, amuses me. But if it runs to a ridiculous degree, it will become annoying. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2010, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-up-with-executive-worship-in-corporate-america/524031/29 "2010-01-08T15:16:51Z")
> [@Two\_Many\_Cats](#): > > I treat the big boss with professional courtesy, same as I do any other co-worker. Whether I engage in good-natured bantering with them depends on how often I see him or her. > > Those who fall all over themselves like Basil Fawlty before the gentry at the sight of the higher-ups, at first, amuses me. But if it runs to a ridiculous degree, it will become annoying. We had a guy like that at one of my previous companies. He was just a creepy guy in general. Basically he fauns over anyone who he thinks can help is career like Smithers from The Simpsons. He’s also a bit of a weird sexual deviant so he also seems to gravitate toards the senior management who share a similar propensity to creep out interns and be seen in bars with young women who aren’t their wife. Actually, to a certain extent a significant portion of the company was like that. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2010, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-up-with-executive-worship-in-corporate-america/524031/30 "2010-01-08T15:23:12Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > Obviously, I can only go on what you post, so I may not have the whole picture, but it seems to me that you are the one who does not “get it”. Presumably the point of your boss’s 3 hour meeting is not to present a meal. It was to discuss some topic of importance. So clearly forgetting to bring a whiteboard might be a bit of an inconvenience. Be honest: have you ever learned _anything_ really important from a whiteboard since leaving college? ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2010, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-up-with-executive-worship-in-corporate-america/524031/31 "2010-01-08T16:12:17Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Be honest: have you ever learned _anything_ really important from a whiteboard since leaving college? Hey, whiteboards can be great for brainstorming. It all depends on how they’re used. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2010, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-up-with-executive-worship-in-corporate-america/524031/32 "2010-01-08T16:45:46Z")
Have you ever accomplished anything using brainstorming that you couldn’t have just by sitting down and talking? ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2010, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-up-with-executive-worship-in-corporate-america/524031/33 "2010-01-08T16:54:18Z")
> [@Chimera](#): > > One thing I’ve noted in both the corporate culture and the security/law enforcement culture is that leaders expect (read: demand) complete loyalty. But that loyalty only flows in one direction: Up. Loyalty is not returned in kind. Yeah, that only works for so long, and then the leaders find themselves without a support base…which is why you find many top executives bouncing from company to company with a small coterie of remora schooling in their slipstream. Real leadership–they kind that will save your ass when you make an error–demands that you are as courteous and supportive of your lower ranks as you want them to be of you. I’ve been in both types of organizations, and while the former is more common, I’d give up serious pay to stay in the latter. > [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Be honest: have you ever learned _anything_ really important from a whiteboard since leaving college? I’ve probably learned a couple of things, but more importantly, I’ve given several pointed lectures on basic mechanics using a whiteboard. It’s hard to draw a freebody diagram in the air. What wigs me out is the disconnect between lower (what I’ll only somewhat ironically call “functional”) management, and upper executive management. At least once a week we get some kind of corporate announcement which is three paragraphs explaining how pleased Rondo T. Dunderhead is it announce that Blunderpuss O. Ferndocker has been promoted to Associated Executive Senior Vice-President of Finance, Ethics, and Sidewalk Development, like any of the troops give a hog’s wet asshole about these people. It’s positively Heller-esque, and I mean that in a _Something Happened_ sort of way. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Duke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e8c25b/32.png) [@Duke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2010, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-up-with-executive-worship-in-corporate-america/524031/34 "2010-01-08T17:10:19Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Be honest: have you ever learned _anything_ really important from a whiteboard since leaving college? Yep–my 9-year-old stepdaughter, for reasons only known to herself, often carries around a small whiteboard to write down her Deep Thoughts. Recently she came to me with the whiteboard and showed it to me. Written on it was “The toilet is leaking.” Now _that’s_ something worth knowing. The difference between the corporate world and the academic world in the US is instructive, I think. IME university presidents and vice-chancellors go out of their way not to be treated like persons apart. I worked at a college where the president would sit and eat lunch in the cafeteria with all the faculty and students…not once a month, but every day. Even where I’m working now, at a much larger place, employees can talk to the college president pretty much whenever they want, even though he is working close to 24/7 (only a slight exaggeration–I’ve received e-mails from him at 2 AM on a weekend). I wouldn’t be the slightest bit concerned if the college president ran into me on campus and I was committing some minor faux pas like not wearing a tie on a summer day, or using the wrong fork at dinner (why that is a pet peeve of so many I do not know; I ate dinner with a Lord of the Realm once and he used the wrong fork for his starter). If I were working for a private company of the same size, would I try not to do those things around the CEO? Sure. Would it make me a better worker? I doubt it highly. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2010, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-up-with-executive-worship-in-corporate-america/524031/35 "2010-01-08T17:27:30Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Be honest: have you ever learned _anything_ really important from a whiteboard since leaving college? Yes, they are very useful if you are having a group discussion and want to capture people’s thoughts. It’s a tool and like any tool it is only as effective as the person weilding it. ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2010, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-up-with-executive-worship-in-corporate-america/524031/36 "2010-01-08T17:36:33Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Have you ever accomplished anything using brainstorming that you couldn’t have just by sitting down and talking? Well, in our group. when we’re trying to solve some complicated engineering problem it comes in handy. We use the whiteboard to draw pictures of our proposed solutions. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2010, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-up-with-executive-worship-in-corporate-america/524031/37 "2010-01-08T17:42:04Z")
Still, it takes two minutes to go fetch a whiteboard, it’s no big deal. The VP isn’t going to sweat it that much unless he’s a total asshole, in which case, he’s not worth working for anyway. If it was really that crucial, the boss should have worried more about that than about sending somebody to pick her lunch order. ---
**Author:** ![Una\_Persson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/una_persson/32/346_2.png) [@Una\_Persson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Una_Persson)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2010, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-up-with-executive-worship-in-corporate-america/524031/38 "2010-01-08T17:55:53Z")
I’ve never met anyone in my life who “worshiped” a CEO or VP. I’ve met plenty of people who _fear_ them, but only with respect to “I’ve got two mortgages, two minivan payments, 4 kids, and a prostate the size of a casaba melon and need my health insurance. If I lose this job, suicide is probably my best option, with bank robbery a close second.” ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2010, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-up-with-executive-worship-in-corporate-america/524031/39 "2010-01-08T17:58:18Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > Still, it takes two minutes to go fetch a whiteboard, it’s no big deal. The VP isn’t going to sweat it that much unless he’s a total asshole, in which case, he’s not worth working for anyway. > > If it was really that crucial, the boss should have worried more about that than about sending somebody to pick her lunch order. Around here, it would take a lot longer than two minutes to fetch a whiteboard (but the conference rooms all come with them and they are in everyone’s cube - but attached to walls, so they couldn’t be fetched - for something that RNATB thinks aren’t very useful, we spend a LOT of time writing on whiteboards - either they are useful, or everyone likes red Expo marker all over their hands). If you want a specialty whiteboard with the printer in it, that needs to be scheduled and delivered by facilities - or you need to book a conference room where one is installed (only a few and they are often booked). ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2010, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-up-with-executive-worship-in-corporate-america/524031/40 "2010-01-08T18:02:53Z")
Yes, I stand corrected on the usefulness of whiteboards. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-up-with-executive-worship-in-corporate-america/524031.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-up-with-executive-worship-in-corporate-america/524031.md?page=3)