Are you a CEO?

Okay, that was a trick question. You are a CEO. You have been named Chief Executive Officer of "(insert name here) Incorporated".

When it comes to the game of life, you are in charge, my friend. Head honcho. Big cheese. The buck starts here.

I sincerely hope you havenot adopted the style of a CEO whom I met in December 2001. As I emceed and provided music for his company's holiday celebration, he asked for the microphone to address his team (and their spouses).

"Happy holidays everyone, thank you all for being here. Well..this year was not a very good one for us. The products we rolled out haven't taken off like we had hoped. Projections for next year don't look much better. Of course we lost (name of employee) at the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center. But, we've got a DJ here tonight. He'll play some music and we'll have a good time"

And he handed the microphone back to me with a "Here you go, son".

I felt like I was in a Southwest Air commerical...wanna get away?!?!?

Having noticed my speechless stare, several employees approached me during the evening and let me know that this was standard protocol for their CEO. Actually, some said, he was on good behavior as he had not used profanity.

Have you ever made a snowball? A giant one? And rolled it down a hill?

What does it do? It picks up speed as it gets larger, and gets harder to stop as it thunders downward.

I had to wonder if the sorry state of this company had something to do with the attitude of this CEO. He is at the top of the hill, gathering steam and gaining momentum, packed tightly with negative energy. Apparently, it has been gathering steam for some time.

How is your corporation doing? What messages are trekking downward from the top...from you?

Perhaps the reactions of those around you speak more loudly than words.