Priorities

First, our book and DVD series have been delayed by someone who lied to us and didn't get his priorities straight. We look for the book and DVD series to actually be deliverable by November 1st at the latest. We're sorry that those of you who have been asking about it are delayed. It is about such jerk behavior as the individual who caused the delay to us displayed that this article is written. We apologize for the inconvenience.

I used to be a sucker for a sob story. I’d have executives come to me after they had gotten, with my intense assistance, employed, at which point they would owe me the final portion of my fee for doing so. But they couldn’t pay it all (or any) just then. The kid just got out of the hospital, the mortgage was behind and they hadn’t eaten for months.

I would feel heartless if I demanded to be paid. So, I put off buying some sorely needed item, postponed a vacation with my family, or borrowed operating capital for a month so as not to push this poor person — who then went on a two week vacation to the Mediterranean, bought a $30K new car, or got a new house in a gated community. Well, in my old age I am getting, I hope, somewhat smarter. While I still am lenient toward true hardship, I have stopped believing people when they tell me most of the sob stories. I have also started to send the deadbeats who can pay but don’t to a pretty nasty collection agency immediately. If the agency can’t collect, I have a rabid lawyer. I forget to feed him breakfast then remove his leash.

This points up part of the problem that has caused America to be in the shape it is currently in. I see far too much lack of understanding regarding priorities in many of the executives I work with. Their family vacation is more important to them than paying their legitimate bills. Or they just have to have a new, expensive car. Or Rolex. Or $3,000.00 Italian suit. And to hell with their responsibilities.

These people need to get their priorities straight, along with the rest of Executive America. Our responsibilities come before our pleasure, and, sometimes, even before something we “need.” I’m sure that many executives could squeeze an extra year or two out of the two year old BMW or Hummer rather than going out and buying a new car and pay me or their other bills instead.

America is in the mess it is in because many executives are irresponsible and don’t have their priorities straight. There is a belief that one’s desires should come first. Many executives have an entitlement attitude that has caused many of them to lie, cheat and steal to get ahead. What is worse is that they don’t even feel guilty about it. And my wife a while back pointed out why.

To get ahead in today’s corporations you have to, apparently, lie, cheat and steal to get ahead. You need to be willing to step on other people to put yourself before them for promotion. In other words, as my beloved pointed out, you have to be a general, all around jerk to get ahead in many corporations today. Hmmmm, I thought. This would explain much.

Unfortunately, it explains too much. It explains why executives who had just been bailed out with our tax dollars felt entitled to bonuses. It explains why other executives who had just been bailed out felt entitled to a “retreat” at a pricey spa. It explains why corporate property is walking out of the doors of American corporations.

It must end. I’m doing my part by holding my executive clients who need it accountable. Whatever you can do to hold executives accountable, you should do. But America needs to change, as well, as a whole. We need an ethic of personal responsibility back, and back right now.

I’m sick and tired of spoiled rotten people who say “me first.” I’m sick and tired of entitled little jerks who want to push others around, shirk their responsibilities, and see themselves as above the law, above morality, and above ethical standards. These people are laughing at the rest of us and going to their $5M vacation homes in their $100K cars with their trophy wives and perfect little clones of themselves while ignoring the plight of the people they’ve laid off or fired who are losing their homes. They open a bottle of champagne to celebrate another wonderful bonus when their company has lost millions because of their irresponsible decisions. This must stop! These little pukes need to be fired and, in extreme cases, jailed. These are the people who are ruining America, and they need to be held accountable for it in the most dramatic way possible. Perhaps, instead of just screaming “You’re fired,” they should be thrust bodily out of the 100th floor window?

American business, and especially American business executives, need to change immediately or we will never see the end of the recession, nor recover as a country. Our executives have done things which, in China, would be a capital offense. I must say I sympathize with the Chinese for putting CEOs who cause China embarrassment to death. No one can say that the Chinese don’t take white collar crime seriously!

But in America, the white collar criminals are the largest contributors to the politicians who make the laws, and can bribe the judge (and jury) who will try them if they even get prosecuted by the politician appointed DA or Federal Attorney who is supposed to prosecute them. This is a set up for the massive government and business corruption which is ubiquitous in our country.

It is time for the honest executives (there are many) and the rest of the people of America to stand up to these criminal executives and say “Enough.” Whistles need to be blown loudly and publicly. Prosecutors need to be pressured to do their jobs by front page news.

And, by the way, what has happened to the free press in America? Lately, the newspapers, which are owned by corporations, have fallen completely silent on corporate crime. Free press? Ha! Not when they are permitted to be owned by the very corporations who are ruining our country.

Businesspeople need to be pressured to get their priorities straight, and get them straight now. Our responsibilities come first. Then our pleasures or luxuries. Luxuries are luxuries. They come last, not first.

If you are someone who is putting your luxuries first and putting off your responsibilities, shame on you! And be aware that there is one person — me — who will no longer buy your BS and entitlement. And the number of us is growing every day. Many of us are fed up with executive entitlement. The next time you take government money, then pay yourself a bonus, better beware. You may well find that a prosecutor has been pressured into actually doing his or her job and find yourself in jail.

The next time you lay people off so that you can get your bonus, beware. You may find the cold eye of the press on you, and find that your products are being boycotted by every union member in America. And it would be about time.

Executives are largely responsible for the mess we’re in, though not the majority of executives. Those responsible are the high rollers, the little jerks who feel that they’re God’s gift to the business world and humanity, the arrogant, entitled, selfish little pricks who put themselves above the needs of their companies, their employees or their nation. Corporations need to stop even giving these people any kind of job except custodian. Let them get mop water on their $10,000 Gucci shoes for once.

I prefer a non-government solution, so kick them in their genitals, which are located in their left back pocket and have the slang name of “wallet,” their most sensitive and important body part.

Let’s boycott the products of corporations who lay people off. Make the actions of the corporations known to your neighbors and friends. Send out a list to your email friends. If we were to completely boycott companies laying people off, there would be a few more layoffs at first, and then layoffs would be a thing of the past. If a corporation knew that laying people off would result in Americans refusing to patronize them and buy their product, the “C” Suite Executives would bit the bullet and keep people on, even at the cost of having to make due on their multi-million dollar salaries instead of their multi-million dollar salaries and multi-million dollar bonuses. They might forgo the raise and the bonus to stay in business.

It is time that Americans took their power and fought back against corrupt corporate heads. We have that power. We buy their crap. If we stopped, they wouldn’t stay in business, and someone else would make some of the same kind of crap for us to buy. We can surely make do with other products, or do without.

So, my call is to watch the papers and see who is laying people off, causing them to go without the wherewithal to pay the mortgage, and pay for food, and pay for other things that the “C” Suite jerks take for granted. Then completely boycott these corporations and ask your friends to do the same. Be prepared for a long boycott, and making do without many products. You’ll live. And you’ll be helping your neighbors to live, as well.

So…I’m doing my part to hold these jerks accountable. As of today, my household and I will not patronize any company that is laying people off. We’ll write to networks asking that they not take the advertising of these companies. We’ll try to convince our friends not to buy their products, no matter how useful. And we’ll patronize their competitors who are not laying people off. Maybe, just maybe, we can make a difference. Wanna give it a try? If it works, we can use the same tactics to change other jerk behavior on the parts of corporate executives. You with me???

J.

Welcome!

Welcome to the Executive Skills Blog. This new blog will publish articles to assist executives in moving forward in their careers, play politics well, and stay out of trouble in their jobs.

This blog will receive new articles at least weekly on a variety of these topics.

Who am I and why should you spend the time reading my articles? For the first post, here is my bio.

John Heckers, MA, CPC, BCPC is President of Heckers Development Group, LTD, an executive coaching and consulting firm based in Cherry Creek, Colorado, specializing in high level Executive Coaching, Corporate Training, Executive Transition Consulting and Strategic Corporate Coaching. John has consulted to both Fortune 500 and smaller companies, and has trained and coached executives from AT&T, New Horizons Computer Learning Centers, Microsoft Corporation, IBM, Maxtor/Seagate, The Prudential, United Airlines, Children’s Hospital, Concentra Health Systems, Merck-Medco, Hewlett/Packard, Citibank of New York, Corporate Express, Stryker Corporation, Qwest, First Data Resources, FEMA, The United States Armed Forces, and many other organizations. John has over 28 years of experience in helping and counseling executives, professional counseling, executive transition (career) counseling and professional training.

John Heckers is published both nationally and internationally as a business columnist, is featured as an employment blogger for ColoradoBiz Magazine Today on-line, on the Jobing.com website (Jobing.com is a national job board and employment advisory website), has served as an employment expert on the Diversity Website Latpro and served as the monthly employment columnist for The Denver Business Journal and the online national bizjournals.com for over 6 years. His articles have been syndicated in business journals across the United States and Canada, and has also had his articles republished in business periodicals in Europe and Asia, translated into five languages. He has had frequent appearances on numerous television news programs and radio talk shows as an employment expert, including Denver’s KCNC, WB2, and KHOW radio, among others.

John Heckers graduated with his Baccalaureate degree in Psychology and Philosophy from the University of Colorado at Boulder in 1977, did graduate studies at the University of Toronto, Trinity College, in 1978 and 1979, and graduated from Denver’s Iliff School of Theology with distinction with his Master of Arts degree in 1989.

He is past president of the Colorado Association of Psychotherapists, served on the boards of directors of the Jefferson Center for Mental Health, the Rocky Mountain Information Management Association, and the International Attention and Behavioral Institute. In 1995, Heckers was appointed by Governor Roy Romer to the Colorado State Mental Health Grievance Board, where he served for three years. He also has served as a Senior Research Fellow for the Magellan Center, a non-partisan and not-for-profit think tank in Colorado devoted to employment issues.

So, there you have it. You may expect a new post on this blog in the next couple of days. If you’d like to know whenever we update, don’t forget to subscribe via the link on the sidebar.

Thanks, and I look forward to having you as a regular reader.

John H. Heckers, MA, CPC, BCPC