It's a corporate jet. It probably counts as a legitimate business expense.
Or something.
There are HBS cases on Ken Chenault, son of Golub. I bet I still have one, but I loathe going to the closet.
"Q: You went to law school. Tell us about how you went into the corporate world. A: I had very little exposure to business growing up. I also was very focused on the civil rights movement. And I saw law as a vehicle to really bring about substantial change. But I probably had a, clearly now, incorrect view of people in business. Q: Incorrect in the sense that, you would stereotype them as being A: Stuffy, not that open, more closed. Q: Greedy? A: Not necessarily greedy because, frankly, again, my exposure was relatively limited and it was more a feeling of just the unknown. Q: How do you get to be a CEO from a starting place like that? A: I've always tried to seek out environments with excitement. So when I went to Bain & Co., I knew nothing about consulting. The reason I went to Bain is, I thought there were incredibly intelligent people there, and I felt excitement in the place."
Parson's big break was leveraging Dime Savings Bank's takeover of Starpointe. But he said he owed the Rockefeller family, whose lawn his grandfather gardened. This biopic from NYT, 1990 is pretty funny; I didn't know he was married to Laura Bush!
Mr. Parsons faces high expectations outside of his job as well. Charities, civic causes and company boards always try to recruit corporate chiefs, but as a black Republican, he has special allure. He is on the boards of Howard University, the New York Zoological Society and Philip Morris Companies Inc. He is a member of the President's Drug Task Force and chairman of the Wildcat Service Corporation, which provides on-the-job instruction for those whose past crimes, drug addiction or poverty might otherwise make them unemployable. "I don't fool myself that all these opportunities to participate come to me just because I'm a great American," he said. "People in this society are always looking for minorities to be involved." ... Mr. Parsons describes his own political philosophy succinctly. "I am still a Rockefeller Republican," he said, "fiscally conservative, socially liberal." The Rockefeller influence permeates his life. His office, which looks out on Rockefeller Center, is decorated with copies of Rockefeller's paintings and sculpture, gifts after Mr. Parsons helped launch a reproduction project. A favorite lunch spot is the Rockefeller Center Club, the dining room atop Rockefeller Center known as the Rainbow Room at night.
Mr. Parsons describes his own political philosophy succinctly. "I am still a Rockefeller Republican," he said, "fiscally conservative, socially liberal." The Rockefeller influence permeates his life. His office, which looks out on Rockefeller Center, is decorated with copies of Rockefeller's paintings and sculpture, gifts after Mr. Parsons helped launch a reproduction project. A favorite lunch spot is the Rockefeller Center Club, the dining room atop Rockefeller Center known as the Rainbow Room at night.
We desperately need to reform corporate organization and executive comp. Cap salaries at fifty grand, and if the CEO's really good, give him some stock in the company (and make him hold it so that he has skin in the game).
It's completely insane. Conservatives want live babies so they can raise them to be dead soldiers. - George Carlin
This jet thing is the kind of silly distractions from real problems we're offered by the media; it's cheap populism but it does nothing to solve issues about labor rights or wages that would be a lot more important. In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes
