Rudy Guiliani stole my idea, darn it!
Last night, in his fantastic RNC keynote speech (video) Guiliani asked Americans to pretend that Obama and McCain were just two guys applying for an important job, not running for President, with all the emotions, history and drama baggage that brings with it.
I had the same idea last week, but got too busy to really work on it. I might as well play around with the notion here and now...
When you got to work this morning, you heard a rumor around the coffee maker: that a particular Guy was in the running to take over as CEO.
This guy's only been working at your company for 143 working days.
During that time, it was pretty obvious to everyone that he really wanted the top spot. Hey, that's understandable. Ambition is a good thing. But he wore his ambition on his sleeve, and it was kind of off putting.
He didn't even pretend to care more about the company than his own position in it. Sure, he said all the right things, gave terrific presentations using all the current marketing and business jargon, but he also had some pretty strange ideas about how to run a business. They sounded good, but... Hadn't other companies tried the same "innovative" ideas back in the 80s and 90s. They didn't always work out, and some of those companies went out of business. Maybe he was too young to remember those stories. Didn't they teach him about New Coke in his MBA program?
He also said "I" a lot. Sometimes you felt you were being scolded or looked down on. His habit of bringing everything back to his time in Indonesia or Hawaii or some Ivy League school made you feel kind of small.
Other times his priorities seemed weird: he was obsessed with the office recycling program and with making sure the stock photos in the annual report showed people of all races. He seemed less interested in what was in the report itself.
Sometimes he made really silly mistakes, like saying there were 57 states. Worse, he made the mistakes with such confidence, even arrogance, that you wanted to laugh. But you were afraid to, in case someone complained to HR. You couldn't be too careful these days about who and what you laughed at, or even just criticized, in the office.
Now it seems pretty clear that he might just be running the whole company pretty soon. Other people have been there longer, and have been more loyal and hard working. Why was he being taken so seriously? Where did a young guy like this get his nerve? It made you wonder about him even more.
Was this some kind of affirmative action thing? You knew better than to even broach the subject. It could cost you your job.
So: be honest. How would you react if this wasn't a Presidential election, but was going on at your workplace. Really think about it. Ask your friends what they'd think.
I know it puts things in perspective for me.
Comments
Bang on,
But in the real Canadian world this is a choice many companies are forced to make. Or be dragged in front of a tribunal.
A Brilliant speech from a brilliant woman. Those who disagree and are thinking Obama will bring you safety and security, you are wrong- He will raise your taxes and diminsh this great country to nothing. That is the change you can believe in with a liberal, keeping you poor, keeping you in a cage, and feeling bad. McCain and Palin are a winning ticket- they will change this country for the better, this is a fact.
With the political death of the feminist standard bearer at the hands of a further left unknown black man from the depths of the Chicago Daley machine, the feminist hoards in the media and elsewhere are ready for the blood of another woman. Not just any woman. A woman who, if elected in November, will have WON the 40 plus year old war against traditional values.
From burning their bras to going to work (and leaving the kids with a sitter) to entering the board room.
Now a woman has achieved ALL those things and is about to be the first woman Vice President of the United States. When Sarah Palin enters the WH as VP, HER side , the side with the traditional values, small town values, family values, will have won the cultural war against the feminists.
It is like being the first on the moon. Once its done its done, NOTHING can take it away. The far left feminists and their feminized male counterparts, will have to concede. The war of 40 years will have been won, and NOT by their side. They will do whatever it takes to stop this fine woman.
They WILL fail.
Realistically, I would stay out of the way in the expectation that he'll be shown the door because of the people he'd be ticking off. But if he did end up as CEO, that's when his failure would start. He'd be the "change agent", but if he ever tried to do anything he would get no real support and just a whole lot of foot dragging or outright opposition. He wouldn't know what to do about it and eventually leave to spend more time with his family. While I've never seen anything quite like the Obama rise, similar scenarios do play themselves out in the business world all the time, and they always end ugly - for the business as well as the new CEO.
Case closed.
"...sign up for my RSS feed over there(examiner.com) do the "Share This" thang."
From your blog at kathyshaidle.com Kathy. Please explain in layman's(nubie) terms, what is an RSS feed, what does it do if one subscribes, and how specifically does one subscribe.
I tried a search, but man it got all techie. No need for a long response, just short and pragmatic. Thanks.
Isn't this how they select Lieberal leaders in Canada?
Oooh - Kathy Shaidle but with comments!
I like this analogy a lot! I'm going to throw it around in public.
Giuliani told the delegates that they could forecast Obama’s performance as president by reviewing his campaign, saying he had changed his mind so often — on public financing, government wiretapping and U.S.-Israeli relations — that “if I were Joe Biden, I’d want that VP thing in writing.”
And as president, he said, Obama would be lost, having no previous experience as an executive.
“He’s never run a city, he’s never run a state, he’s never run a business, he’s never run a military unit,” Giuliani said. “He’s never had to lead people in crisis.
“This is not a personal attack. It’s a statement of fact,” he said. “Barack Obama has never led anything. Nothing. Nada. Nada. Nothing.”
Perfectly said.
About RSS feeds:
Instead of having to remember to visit a blog every day, an RSS feed brings the new posts to you, in a 'reader'.
I use NetNewsWireLite, but there are many of them out there.
http://www.whatisrss.com/
http://demogirl.com/2008/01/24/rss-explained-in-about-3-minutes/
After you sign up for a free reader, you click on the RSS icon on the blog you want to keep up with, and it will subscribe you. All new posts will then display automatically in your reader.
RSS feeds will change the way you use the net because you will have all the latest information all the time, automatically.
In the end, character is everything. When you have a clear conscience, you can speak from the heart, without fear or intimidation. When you are a wooden puppet, desperately trying to become a real boy, there's nothing you can do to stop that nose growing except tell the truth; something the erstwhile democratic contender finds incompatible with his own, self-composed "life journey".
The man is his own ghost writer.
Saw this at a company I worked at 10 years ago. The guy was a complete fraud and a sexual harassment poster boy to boot. He eventually took over a fairly good company that had very good and loyal customers, but his past misdeeds and sheer incompetence caught up to him. The company no longer exists after all the customers bailed out but he left with millions in his pocket. I saw what he was early and was lucky to get out when I did. Other coworkers were not so lucky and suffered when their jobs disappeared overnight. It is easy to spot frauds, so I still do not understand why such people are allowed to have free rein to destroy good things and good people. My theory is that they are geniuses at hiding who they really are from decisionmakers and spend much more time getting rid of those who smell them out and can blow the whistle on them. Sound familiar?
I'd think at least he is not a hockey mask mom who shoots wolves in helicopters.
Well, gee. He did graduate magna cum laude from Harvard, and was editor in chief of their Law Review. Maybe not the best choice, but if I had to pick between him and a guy who got locked in the basement for 5 years and has a reputation as a hothead, it would be Obama.
I've worked with a guy like Obama. Looks the part, acts the part...but didn't know squat! He took credit for other's work, and when the few things he DID come up with on his own went wrong, he blamed someone else. He was such a fast talker, he usually got away with it. He was a climber...and he got very far on "image" alone. But eventually, people wised up to him. But not before he did some real damage to the company. I think he's driving a cab somewhere in Deluth now (and I'm sure he takes the long route to drive up the cost of the fare). I expect we will see Mr. Barry Obama doing likewise eventually.
Stop the media-driven Palin rumors. It's just the media's and Obama's other water-carriers' way of trying to destroy a woman they are scared to death of. She is wildly popular in Alaska...where she GOVERNS.
http://explorations.chasrmartin.com/2008/09/06/palin-rumors/
If there was a guy like Obama at my office I'd say he had married the boss's daughter. Here's someone who failed in high school yet got into Columbia. Entered Havard with poor grades; did so poorly at law school he couldn't get a job with a reputable law firm (the Chicago firm that did give him a stint is headed by well known communists). So what does the guy do, he becomes a community organizer for ACORN, hmmm what would you do if he had been an organizer for the Klan?
But when you look at his judgement, consistency, honesty, would you buy a used car from this man?
Would you lend him $5?
yeah - I forgot about the Obama elitist thing. Shame on him for going to an Ivy league school. The fact that McCain is a bazillionaire does not make him elitist does it? Or that he wears $500 loafers? Who talks about that. McCain says "country" a lot but votes against support for our troops. By the way, McCain says "I" tons and tons too.
Yea, things were so bad in the 90's with that huge surplus. And Coke went under cuz of New Coke didn't it.
If Obama were some guy at my office and he had a history of mobilizing vast amounts of people from the south side of Chicago, talked openly about no more smearing and stood by that in the face of an oppponent who does it through his running mate - I would certainly trust him more than the "experienced" guy who sucked up to the powers that be and is now trying to distance himself from them just days after they were speaking at his convention.
The doublespeak is frighteningy disingenous.
I cannot find your perspective.
guiliani gave the most embarrassing speech of his career. Whatever respect I had for him was drowned in his ad hominem attacks that are irresponsible.
The other guy they are considering is well past retirement age, is known for his bad temper, and likes to chase after women young enough to be his daughter. He fooled around with one of them while married but eventually divorced his loyal wife for his hot young mistress. He is pretty reckless and gets very excited by half baked ideas but, he did some real good work for the company 40 years ago. The trouble is that he keeps demanding payback for his work in the 1960s. It's kind of sad. The company should really give him a nice retirement party to thank him for his service and let him try to regain the dignity and itegrity he once had.
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