This morning’s Plain Dealer has Feagler reflecting on the incompetence of so many of the business leaders he’s met over the years. I especially liked this:

When I watch Wall Street begging for our tax money, and then Detroit begging for more, I think how dumb I was years ago. I never realized that the guys who ran these companies were just greedy dopes. I’m ashamed to say that I was 40 years old before I figured out that some of those guys were actually dumber than I was.

Luckily, I was in my 20s when I sniffed out this nearly universal truth.

Having worked in the trade pub trenches for many years, I can’t count how many presentations I’ve sat through with very important higher-ups that were complete wastes of time. Not to mention awkward luncheons and uncomfortable (albeit delicious) dinners with mono-dimensional company men (and women) prattling on about nothing in particular, all the while trying to sound knowledgeable and in control of the situation.

But even worse was hearing fellow journalists fawn over some of these people. I remember one journalist on a Mercedes-sponsored junket in the French Riviera at dinner praising a Wolfgang-something-or-other and how “fascinating” it was listening to him essentially whisper sweet marketing nothings in our ears.

“Puh-lease,” I wanted to say. “Less fawning, more roast duck.”