CEO’s and Their Favorite Ex-Presidents
Mar 26th, 2008 by John Stodder
The Ladders, or I should say, TheLadders (spaces between words are so 20th-century), thought its job placement service for people who believe they should earn more than $100,000 could get some favorable publicity with a political survey of executives. They asked: Who would American executives elect as president today?
I guess the idea is: If you want to become a highly-paid executive, you should learn their political beliefs. Does this survey deliver?
Here’s how TheLadders presented their findings:
American Executives Cast Their Votes for Ronald Reagan
TheLadders.com Survey of $100k+ Job Seekers Finds “Great Communicator” Favorite Among Past Presidents; Obama and McCain in a Dead Heat for ’08
NEW YORK–(BUSINESS WIRE)–With the 2008 presidential election rapidly becoming a personality contest,
Hey! Save the editorials for the editorial page!
TheLadders.com, the world’s leading online marketplace for $100k+ jobs, sought some perspective from American businesspeople on what they are looking for in a president. According to a survey of over 1,300 executives, Ronald Reagan is the answer.
Apparently, that explains why most of the Republican field of candidates (and even one Democrat) felt the need to repeat Reagan’s name like a mantra.
History as a Guide?
When asked who they would choose if they could elect any former president in U.S. history in 2008, 31 percent of the executives surveyed chose Ronald Reagan by a wide margin.
Do they mean Reagan was chosen by a wide margin of the execs surveyed, or (as it reads) 31 percent responded “Reagan by a wide margin.” Were other intensifiers allowed, like “Truman’s the Man!” or “Coolidge Governs Good Like a President Should.”
The former president receiving the second-place vote was John F. Kennedy, who was chosen by 15.8 percent of executives. Kennedy was followed by Bill Clinton, with 11.4 percent of the vote and Franklin Roosevelt, with 8.2% of the vote.
Apparently, history begins for the surveyed executives when they were born, or at furthest when their fathers were born. And they like their males alpha.
Among the current candidates, John McCain was the lead contender, earning 35 percent of executive votes. However, Barack Obama came in a very close second place with 33.9 percent of the vote, followed by Hillary Clinton with 25.2 percent. Mike Huckabee, the other Republican hopeful, earned just 2 percent of the vote, raising the prospect of a Democratic victory among executives once the field of candidates has narrowed.
My version of this press release is dated today. Huckabee dropped out about three weeks ago, no? I wonder if they’re using a widget that makes this release always a “today” release.
Eye on the Issues
When it comes to the myriad issues confronting the next President of the United States of America, the war in Iraq is top on the minds of executives. Forty one percent of those surveyed said Iraq is the most important issue in the election, followed by healthcare (21.6 percent), the mortgage mess (19 percent) and the stock market (12 percent).
If elected to office themselves, 31 percent of executives said the first thing they would do as President would be to pull out of Iraq. Another 26.2 percent would devote themselves to reforming healthcare and 20 percent would fix social security. Thirteen percent said the first thing they would do would be to call their moms from the Oval Office.
If this is how American executives think, someone better alert the editorial page editors of the Wall Street Journal. Our captains of industry are a bunch of liberals! Albeit liberals who love Reagan.
So, obviously, this wasn’t an opinion survey; it was a questionnaire with limited choices. That explains why Reagan, Kennedy, Clinton and Roosevelt collectively thumped those losers Washington, Adams, Jefferson and Lincoln.
Pity. The headline promised a good deal more.
The one thing nearly all executives surveyed agreed on universally was that 2008 is a monumental election year. Eighty two percent of respondents said they believe our future depends on this election.
“American executives feel very strongly about our current political issues,” said Marc Cenedella, CEO and founder of TheLadders.com. “As our survey results show, there are wide ranging differences of opinion even among people with similar socioeconomic backgrounds. While this will certainly be an interesting race to watch unfold, executive job seekers should take note that it’s never safe to assume you know where a boss, a co-worker or a recruiter sits politically. Job seekers in the private sector should make a point of being informed about the issues – particularly those that affect their businesses – so they can discuss them without necessarily revealing too strong a position.”
Can’t really argue with that advice. In fact, questions concerning how political beliefs figure into the recruiting process might’ve made for a much more interesting survey — and a newsworthy one.
TheLadders.com survey was conducted in February 2008 and included 1,381 executives. The results of this survey are statistically accurate to within ± 2.64 percentage points.
That’s a big survey. Presidential preference surveys conducted for news organizations often have fewer respondents. One can’t help but wonder, however, how many executives answered this questionnaire, versus handing it to their PR staff to fill out. The word “included” seems a little weasely. Couldn’t you say you are “included” in a survey if they send it to you and you never respond?
From looking at the press coverage so far, this survey doesn’t seem to have struck the news media’s fancy. However, as my previous entry suggests, a humble press release like this gets much wider distribution on the Internet. Who knows who might stumble across it? The writer of this opus is like his or her own little news channel. And this is what they chose to put on it.
Previous reports from TheLadders include this one on executives’ feelings about baldness, which got picked up by Gannett News Service, and this one with news that US executives overwhelmingly favor “business casual,” which merited a blurb the Youngstown, Ohio Vindicator.
The boilerplate is below the fold:
Sphere: Related ContentAbout TheLadders.com:
TheLadders.com is the world’s largest online service catering exclusively to the $100k+ job market. Our job is to make the search for senior talent and senior positions quick and effective. With access to the most $100k+ job leads in one place, senior level professionals can get to the next step in their careers faster. Top recruiters value the ability to quickly and easily connect with so much qualified talent in the sales, marketing, finance, HR, legal, tech and operations industries. Founded in 2003 by Marc Cenedella, TheLadders.com has grown into the largest specialty employment website with over 1,800,000 members and over 35,000 recruiters. In addition to traditional job search services, TheLadders.com also provides a host of specialized career development resources, including a proven, one-on-one resume service; advice from career experts; customized online profiles; and e-mail alerts. TheLadders.com is headquartered in New York with offices in London. For more information, please visit www.theladders.com or www.theladders.co.uk.
