Abstract

The post of top corporate executive is a lonely one. The man filling it can feel that his business and life goals are misunderstood not only by college students, unionists, and the public, but sometimes even by his subordinate managers and his wife. In this article, the author reports how six young corporation presidents of small companies communicated their own values to their wives and their vice presidents. The six presidents belong to the relatively new Young President's Organization. They became president before age forty, have minimum annual sales of $1 million, and a minimum of fifty employees. These young men are clearly not representative of all corporation presidents. The author do not contend that their statements necessarily represent their consistent behavior, there is always some gap between a man's professed ideals and his daily practice. The author conducts a short study, and admittedly, this small sample indicate that top management must make better attempts to bridge their communications gap with their wives and vice presidents.