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I worked with a guy who had gone through the Kennedy School at Harvard. He was a nice guy, and we got along really well, but he was constantly asking me for help on the most basic stuff. A lot of it had to do with internal processes, and when he was new I didn’t mind helping because everyone is lost in the bureaucracy at first, but he never tried to learn anything beyond that. I think, like nearly every hyper-ambitious person I’ve known, he was only focused on the interpersonal relationships (“schmoozing”) that he thought would get him up the ladder, and really didn’t care to learn any of the nuts and bolts of the job. For those things, these people are experts at leeching off other people, who frankly are far more knowledgeable overall than they are. They’re a lot like the star quarterback in high school, who while he is basking in the glory and getting all the girls, is making the “nerds” do his homework so he doesn’t get kicked off the team.

I retired recently, and from what I’ve observed over a long career it is the rare exception when a C-level executive actually got to where they are based on true merit. Some of the most mediocre people are running companies today, and it’s even worse now because the price of entry to the C-suite today is your demonstrated level of “wokeness.” Corporate governance has become nothing but an exclusive club of morons with used car salesman personalities, all parroting the required woke jargon.