Better Living Through Thinking

Upper Management as a Circus

Thu, 12 May 2005

This is not a commentary about my own upper management, whom I think is wonderful. This is about the upper management of a friend of mine who I'll call Bryan.

Senior management is like a travelling circus. They come into town, put on a big show, support each other, give each other promotions and raises, etc. Keep moving things around, but never really do anything of direct value to the company.

In the end, though, when you've seen one, you've seen them all. When they leave they leave behind a stinking mess that the employees who do contribute value have to deal with.

Another interesting thing about the circus is that when a new one comes into town, a few of the otherwise good people want to join the circus and go travelling with them. So what do they do? They abandon their good sense, abandon their civic duties and those who live in the town with them, and begin to see things the circus way and contribute to the mess.

This is how the circus perpetuates itself from year to year. It's a good living for those who have no shame enough to forsake Quality (in the Zen sense of the word).