The devil made me do it

Sure, that’s what they all say when their backs are up against the wall. Makes ya wonder, doesn’t it? The ol’ demon inside–never gets enough credit for the gutsy stuff, the risky stuff, the bungee jump, the leap of faith. Just the bad stuff. “The devil made me do it.”

Nobody made me want to write for this–whatever you call it. Online publication. News service. Collection of talking heads. Whatever it is, I was immediately attracted to it. My friend Bob down in Moro Bay sent me to the site. He knows me pretty well. We only speak the truth to each other. Which can be tough on a friendship sometimes.

I’ve covered the business of American business for a long time. Early on, I was fascinated by it. The real seat of power lies in the board room, not the White House. Now, most journalists hate business execs. They may not admit it, but they do. They’re overpaid, pampered, big expense accounts, private jets, and so on. But I had a little insight early on that it wasn’t such a great life, and that most of them worked pretty hard for the dollars they rarely got to enjoy.

My friend Paul was the son of a corporate titan in Cleveland, OH, back in the day. The father ran one of the Seven Sisters in the Ore House, as they were called. Hanna Mining. Oglebay Norton. Cleveland-Cliffs. Four others. Serious Rust Belt manufacturing. Paul’s dad did nothing but work. He was never home. The money he raked in when he finally became CEO meant very little to the dysfunctional family he left behind every morning at 6 a.m.

So I had a little different perspective on executive compensation, as the Wall Street Journal decided it should be called, than most of my reporting peers. I came to believe that the vast majority of these executives worked at lot harder for their dough than most sports figures or movie stars. Now, much later, with a lot of water under the bridge, I see it through yet another lens. Almost like, the more they make, the more they will have to pay back in another coinage later on. But this is their lot, and they have to play it out.

I guess that part won’t show up in a public document.

But I do hope to kick-start a discussion here about executive compensation, among other things. I’d like to look at the compensation of certain nonprofit executives as well–an area long overdue for some real digging. And maybe even a few media moguls–if we can find any still able to make rent.