I wasn’t aware of it back then, but studies have shown that executives who make it to the top do not have the usual human characteristics. Men who build their own empires are not so good at inspiring individuals one-on-one as they are at motivating masses or large numbers of people.
When Dr. Mortimer Feinberg, president of BFS Psychological Associates, polled thirty corporate presidents and board chairmen, he found interesting facts about motivations, habits and actions of the American corporate hierarchy. His findings showed that such executives “have an instinct for the jugular, and can tell immediately what is wrong with you. They know that in building their corporate empire, any one of their underlings can cause their demise by just one blunder,” and they have a lack of trust. “These executives are killers, without the killer instinct. They only kill those who try to encroach on their territories. You can enter with their permission, but only if you are not threatening to them. They invent, create and improvise, and have a capacity to see what the run-of-the-mill executive cannot see.”
Although such entrepreneurs generally play within the rules (my mother always referred to my father as a Boy Scout) and have a certain amount of humility, in their case humility is power, Feinberg reported: They’re humble because they feel that if they fail, they will do so because failure is a condition or fate which can happen to anyone. But they have a tremendous— although sometimes hidden—need for power. And while they may not call attention to their personal or corporate power, if you intend to deal with these men you had better be aware that they indeed have this power.
Feinberg warned: It doesn’t pay to cross these power figures. They always keep score, always collect their IOUs. They never permit a favor to go unrepaid; neither do they ever forget an insult. And those who wish to play their game had better play it by their rules….They are also ruthless, but not wantonly ruthless. They don’t set out to hurt for the sake of hurting. But they know their enemies, whether these enemies are competitors or business or personal rivals. They know how to use their power for their particular purposes.
But whatever else the chief corporate executive may or may not be, one thing is certain, he is organized… highly organized…. They organize time brilliantly… know approximately how much time each step or each operation should take, and allow for it perfectly in their planning, without fuss or ado. And only enough time is spent on each individual problem to provide a solution to that problem.
They also never forget their basic purpose. Neither women, nor family, nor obstacles, nor challenges can divert them from their goals. They run a race that few of us are capable of running, or would want to run even if we could….
While these top executives are not necessarily happy people, they are fulfilled in the sense they know what they want; they’ve found themselves. They know what is expected of them. They know themselves well enough to realize just how far they can stretch their capabilities. And they constantly and consistently stretch them to their absolute functional limits.31 These attributes applied to my father and to his treatment of me and the outdoor division.