Thinking

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I am, as I have mentioned before, going back to school to get my MBA, for the purpose of opening career levels presently denied to me. OK, and to make more money. It’s a fine line, meeting my responsibility as a father and husband to provide security and comfort for my family, without crossing the line and loving money. I trust God to help me out there, as the history of more than a few smacks upside the head bear witness. It also seems to me from time to time, that I am not quite where I am meant to be. Again I am aware that humans often feel they deserve better than they have, often without merit, but I also feel I should be responsive to becoming all I can be. I admit I’m a bit tired, which always messes up focus, but I sense this is one of those ubiquitous feelings we all get.

The company I work for is pretty good, but I have noticed four distinct social classes in the workforce, and it occurs to me to wonder about what is necessary to advance from one to another, presuming this is possible. The floor is one class, the lower and middle management another, the self-defined professionals another, and the company directors at the top the last. The first three are usually defined by experience and education, but the last is something different. Certainly no executive seems to join a company the same way us working stiffs do, going through the obstacle course in HR and the minefield of sending in a reume and begging for an interview. Certainly the executives have a far better position to negotiate their salaries and perks than ordinary employees ever do, and it certainly seems the executives do not face the normal sorts of periodic performance review. From an objective of satisfying pay and prestige, job security and personal recognition, being an executive is an obvious career target. Ahhhh, but how to get there?

I have to stop here and explain that I am not anti-Executive, nor do I think that being an Executive is of itself a proper goal. The work is its own reward at times, and I do like the idea of being the right man in the right place to make a difference. More than once I have wondered if I could do the job well enough to avoid some of the bad decisions made at the top, or to put some of the ideas promised so often into actual operation. One major reason I would like to be a company officer at my place, is because I believe I could make a difference, for the team and for our customers.

Of course, my road is going to be a little tough anyway. I want to focus on Sox compliance in particular, and Accounting in general, and it’s hard to get excited about an accountant, I know. Then again, if you take apart the numbers you see what’s really going on with a company. It’s CSI with money, you know?