The Code of the Executive by Don Schmincke

Author:Don Schmincke
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2010-03-01T00:00:00+00:00

Call to Arms

An executive who is favored with a salary by his CEO must not consider his life his own alone. For among those who render service there are two types. There are the employees who work hard all the time but who are not necessarily bound to lay down their careers for their company. They cannot be considered culpable if they do not show themselves specially trained or skilled in the management arts. Then there is the executive. He is quite different. For he is a servant who risks his career, as the CEO does with the board, but on a different scale. Should any trouble arise in the empire, he has to render service suitable to his status. That is to say, he should apply his budget and resources, along with the number of employees under his care, according to the statutes of the board. As with the ancient samurai, when an executive has to lead his forces out to war in a market sector, he must also have a sufficient number of men left behind to protect other markets against attack. So, though he does not need them all the time, he has to maintain a sufficient number who are capable.

And in return for all this, the executive does his ordinary peacetime duty as a company officer, a commonplace sort of performance that can scarcely be called outstanding service. But there may be at any time a sudden call to arms when he must take his place in the ranks as a leader. If it is an attack on their market, he must respond as a formidable competitor. If the enemy outperforms the organization in production, he must become a process-improvement champion. If quality is second best, he must act as an agent of change. In each case he may have to give his career for his colleagues under the onslaught of the foe and die a splendid death where he stands without yielding an inch. This indeed is the deepest sense of service in the executive when he steels his resolution and shouts, “God be my witness, I will show you a deed that no other shall do!”

To achieve this height of devotion, an executive cannot let his ego think his career or position is his own. Others are affected by his service, and he never knows when he may have to render such service. So, he must take care not to damage his health by overeating or drinking. Neither must he regard a senseless career arrest as his proper end. Much more must he be on his guard against disputes and quarrels with his comrades that may lead to career blows and risk the useless waste of lives in a disloyal and undutiful manner. To this end it is essential for him to think carefully before he speaks, for it is out of words that disputes arise. When disputes grow hot, abuse is apt to follow. And when one executive abuses another, the affair can hardly end amicably.

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