Why are the CEOs such wimps in Congressional hearings?
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On 3/18/09, AIG CEO Edward Liddy allowed himself to be tongue-lashed by the likes of Barney Frank and Massachusetts Democrat Congressman Richard Neal. Neal slandered Liddy, repeatedly accusing Liddy of having created the bonus contracts at issue—even after Liddy explained repeatedly that he had not been at AIG when the contracts were signed.
Liddy has only been CEO of AIG since September, 2008. He had been retired. He was asked to come out of retirement to run AIG. AIG pays him $1 per year with no bonuses.
If he had any guts or self-respect, he would have interrupted Barney Frank or Neal and said,
You know what. Take this job and shove it. I ain’t working here no more. And good luck finding someone worth a damn to take my place in hearings like this.
The same is true of the parade of corporate CEOs and military generals who have recently sat like meek schoolboys in Congressional hearings while they were unfairly tongue-lashed by politicians. In 2007, Army General David Petraeus was on the receiving end of a comment from then Senator and presidential candidate Hillary Clinton that his Iraq report required a “willing suspension of disbelief.” In other words, she called him a liar. What did he do about it? Absolutely nothing. He sat there meekly and took it just like all the corporate executives summoned before Congress.
Why is this? Aren’t these guys supposed to be great leaders?
In fact, they are corporate bureaucrats. Once upon a time, they were little executive trainees or lieutenants. They climbed up to CEO or general by sucking up to more powerful people for 30 years. See my article “The U.S. military’s 30-year, marathon, single-elimination, suck-up tournament or How American selects is generals.” It applies equally to CEOs and the testimony of various CEOs and generals in front of Congress is stark evidence of how correct my article is.
I appreciate informed, well-thought-out constructive criticism and suggestions. If there are any errors or omissions in my facts or logic, please tell me about them. If you are correct, I will fix the item in question. If you wish, I will give you credit. Where appropriate, I will apologize for the error. To date, I have been surprised at how few such corrections I have had to make.