Giving Back — Tip of the Week

It’s been about a week since the The Chronicle of Higher Education reported on the compensation of college and university presidents. It caused a bit of a stir, just like any report on highly paid executives would cause these days. Maybe college presidents are smarter than other executives.

According to the New York Times, several of the highest paid presidents have now said they will give back part of their pay or forgo their raises. In light of tuition increases, faculty layoffs, and new barriers to student loans, some of the college presidents decided the give-back was a no-brainer.

It’s unfortunate that all executives don’t see the no-brainer nature of this kind of decision. Layoffs abound in almost every business. Hours are being cut back. Raises are minimal. The holidays are looking bleak for many Americans. When employees see the top dogs of their organizations making amounts of money that are unimaginable to normal folks, the employees also can’t imagine how the executives can continue to take the money during what’s becoming an economic crisis of historic proportion.

Alas, it seems that some executives have spent so much time in the C-Suite, they can’t remember how it used to be and can’t relate to the employees who make it possible for them to earn such huge amounts of compensation. Last week’s appearance in Congress by the CEOs of General Motors, Ford and Chrysler underscored the disconnect. They came begging for a bailout. Without the government’s help, a major part of our economy — at least, historically — was heading straight for an abyss, they said.

Each of them flew to Washington in a multi-million dollar corporate jet. A Washington Post article captured perfectly how it never crossed their minds this wouldn’t look, how contrary this was to their purpose, how oblivious this would make them appear to the ordinary worker they claimed to be trying to help.

We shouldn’t confuse symbolism with substance, but right now, symbolism is a powerful thing. It seems to me that in every C-Suite in America, there should be sincere, albeit painful, discussion about giving back some executive compensation, forgoing raises, refusing bonuses. Everyone yearns for leadership right now. I can think of no better way to provide it.