Be Worthy

James was a great CEO. He had a keen ability to tell if an individual was worthy of membership to the sphincter club. I remember when the board of his corporation admonished him in a memo that was distributed to all shareholders and employees. James had steadfastly held to his mission of cleaning house of inbred elements. Those unwanted epigones of business success. James took the memo and had it matted and set in a beautiful frame and hung it directly behind him where he sat at his desk. Anyone who visited him would see …the memo… as it became to be known. Those he deemed to be …out of touch… were phrased as …they are not worthy to be a sphincter… He labeled the board as such. James died at 47. He laid there on the marble floor of his corporate headquarters lobby. It was a cold Philadelphia winter morning. Just inside the turnstile entryway is where he collapsed. The heart attack had rendered him immobile and he laid there face down with the left side of his face flush against the cold marble floor. It was winter and sunrise was just beginning. As workers entered the building they would step around James and look with concern then continue to the elevators. James could not talk as he laid there conscious of what was occurring. He could not breathe and just needed someone to administer CPR. No one did. When I arrived it was too late. His life was departing. I knelt down to check if he was conscious. Our eyes locked for a long few seconds then I asked him if he could hear me. James muttered and slurred something. I knelt down to place my ear as close to his mouth as possible and asked …what?... I could barely hear his utterance as life escaped through his last words. … They are not worthy… he barely made the audible phrase. Great CEOs never surrender.

CD
Sometimes when I see a worthy sphincter I think of James