CEOs Dilemma

Once upon a time (but not so long ago), a corner office of a big corporate was an object of great desire for any ambitious manager. Fat paychecks, bonuses, unimaginable power and of course the fame if you did a good job. I don't know if this is still the case. But then the old adage "what goes up, comes down" consistently delivers on its money. And it has done so yet again. CEOs nowadays are available for dime a dozen or precisely for a $1.00 per year salary. Take the case of any big company today, the story seems to be the same. In some cases this $1.00 salary does not include perks such as flying around in corporate jets asking for bailouts from the government or taking holidays in exclusive retreats. What the job really comes with is, a lot of challenges, a lot of criticism, a lot of tough decisions like letting go of employees and constant media scrutiny waiting for that one wrong step that will bring down the intricate house of cards. All this for one measly $1.00. Or maybe I am wrong. Maybe, $1.00 is no more measly. Maybe these CEOs are getting overpaid for the job they have on hand. Whatever be the case, they have their job cut out for them. Any takers?

So, while these CEOs try to use their numerous years of experience to bring us out of this quagmire and get grossly overpaid for it, there was one CEO – Paul Levy of Beth Israel Hospital - this week who was bent on saving the jobs of thousands of people who work for his hospital in a unique but effective way. This man certainly does deserve more than a dollar. Its nice to see that some good guys are still hanging on there. Check his blog at http://runningahospital.blogspot.com.