And the Promo Begins

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Sometimes I wonder why I do all this. All what? you ask.

Submerging myself in an imaginary world, writing about it, going back over to eliminate inconsistencies, because if I don’t find them, someone will. Checking the galley proofs for mistakes and no matter how careful I am, gremlins seem to be at work and sneak them in. And once it’s actually available, then the promoting.

Of course this all takes lots of time that you can’t be doing normal things like hanging out with the family (though I try to involve them as much as possible–just ask my hubby), doing housework, cooking, visiting with friends.

I don’t actually have a book in hand, but they are on the way, and I know it’s being advertised on Amazon–though when I looked the cover wasn’t up yet.

I’ve still got to plan and advertise my launch party, put together some promo materials, do some posting here and there, but I do have quite a few speaking engagements set up already. I’ll be attending four conferences, only flying to one, the others are close enough to drive. As you’ve heard from Evelyn, conferences are fun. I’ve met lots of wonderful people at conferences, Evelyn and Susan for example.

More things to do, so onward I go.

Marilyn
aka F. M. Meredith

Corporate Crooks and Idiots

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John Thain is an idiot. Forget the fact that on his watch, Merrill Lynch lost $15 billion in three months. I don’t need an MBA from Harvard to know that he didn’t have a firm grasp of that bronco. No, I’d think he was an idiot even if he’d manage to save the company from ruin because really, in what universe, does anyone pay $35,114 for a toilet? Frankly, just how much time was he planning to spend sitting on the throne? And I’m guessing that even two-ply Charmin doesn’t make the cut for toilet paper in Thain’s powder room.

Okay, okay, it wasn’t really a toilet. His commode on legs is really an antique chest of drawers that was originally designed to hold a chamber pot, but is now considered decorative. Think I could put my old American Standard toilet in the living room and call it art?

How tone deaf, crass, and craven do you have to be to justify spending $1.2 million dollars to re-do your office – even in the best economy? Did it make him work more efficiently? Did it make him turn around a failing company? Um, that would be a “no.” In an interview, he stumbled and stammered his justification about how he just didn’t like the décor of the previous tenant. I assume it offended his delicate sensibilities.

But to give him his due, Thain decided to spread the wealth around – to a chosen few. Right before the merger with Bank of America, but after he’d accepted Federal bailout money, he distributed $4 billion in bonuses to his top echelon. Nevermind that in the same breath, he issued pink slips to the minions at the bottom.

I know that John Thain isn’t the devil incarnate, although tell that to those who have lost their jobs and pensions. But he does represent a culture of entitlement found all too often in the boardrooms of our nation’s failing companies. That “me first” behavior that we insist is unacceptable from preschoolers has somehow become tolerable if you’ve got a seven figure income. These guys have lost touch with the reality facing most of us. So Mr. Thain agreed to pay back the $1.2 million in decorating fees. Big deal, big fat deal. If he had no idea that $87,000 for a rug and $18,000 for a desk are ridiculous expenditures, then this guy shouldn’t be treasurer of the PTA, let alone CEO of a company.

Word of advice to all companies taking Federal bailout money: spend money as if it were coming out of your poor grandmother’s pocketbook…because it is. And if Grandma won’t yell at you for being a wastrel – I sure will.

Evelyn David