The Timeshare Beat: Jerry Sikes; With Regard to the Ladder

"Success is a ladder that cannot be climbed with your hands in your pockets." -An American Proverb-

We have always been told or taught that in order to achieve success we must be on top. Even as children we often played the game "King of the Hill". As you remember the game only needed a high point like a hill and several players. The idea was to scratch and claw your way over and around the other players in order to gain the summit, then to maintain that position with vigor by whatever means necessary. Young boys mostly played this game for it was a rough and tumblegame not all that suitable for young girls. As a side note; games such as this may well have implanted (at an early age) the invalid idea in the male gender, that the female was not equipped or suitable for the top position; however, I digress. The subject at hand is the idea that terms such as climbing, upward mobility, or on his/her way up, are most often used to describe a person who is on the verge of achievement. How often have we heard or used the term "Pinnacle of Success" to describe the very top performance or how often have we heard or used the term "Ladder of Success" to describe a way to get to the high-level we perceive as desirable?

The ladder is the tool we most often visualize as we ascend (or attempt to ascend) the organization structure position by position on our way to the top. We see those positions as so many rungs on the ladder and each rung as an objective to be achieved so that we can get to the next step. We perceive that the higher we get on that ladder the more successful we have become. Sometimes we feel that we have to climb over others to get where we are going and at other times we hope that someone on a higher rung will reach down and give us a hand up.

If we are somewhat cautious we may envision a stepladder because it has a wider base and thus would be somewhat more stable, however the stepladder has limits as to how high it can reach and becomes somewhat unstable if you attempt to stand on its top rung and reach for something above. If we see ourselves as throwing caution to the wind we may envision an extension ladder which is capable of reaching much higher that the typical step ladder, however it offers less stability.

When we see ourselves in a position distant from the top we often envision a pyramid, wide at the bottom and narrow or pointed at the top. The top, where there is room for only a select few, as opposed to the desert floor or bottom where the many are gathered. We do not want to be part to the many thus we search for ways to get off the floor and ascend as high up the face of the pyramid as possible.

Funny thing about that pyramid! We know through the history of the region known as the Valley of the Gods, that the real treasure to be found was not at the top of the pyramid, but deep within the lower levels where the crypts lay. Another funny thing about those pyramids, archaeologists have for centuries been uncovering those treasures, however, the greatest mystery still remains unsolved. That being the actual methods used which allowed those hundreds of thousands of workers, those masses, to accomplish such enduring construction. There are many hypotheses about these achievements, however none which positively identify how. One thing that I am sure of is that the high-ranking individual for whom the tomb was being built had no clue, he/she just ordered it to be done and thus it was.

Can't you just imagine the Pharaoh or Egyptian kings, such as Khufu (builder of the Great Pyramid), Amenhotep III (prolific builder of temples and statuary throughout Egypt), or Ramesses II (prolific builder and usurper), Visiting the desert floor to find out what was going on with the masses or to find ways to improve their lot. Can you imagine any one of them dressing in the uniform of a common worker and actually getting their hands dirty doing the work or exposing their back to the whip of the overseer?

Can’t you just imagine the CEO or COO of one of the major Timeshare or Vacation Ownership firms showing up one morning and taking a place on the power wheel or working that OPC Booth in front of the Circle K. Can't you just imagine if that same individual came the next day in the uniform of a maintenance man, groundskeeper or room attendant and performed those tasks for a day or so. Visualize that top officia, brush in hand, attempting to clean the toilet or vacuuming the carpet with that five-year-old vacuum cleaner. After achieving the pinnacle of success and arriving at the top many assume three things: 1] They would not have gained the pinnacle if they didn't know everything they needed to know, 2] They have to always be on guard for an interloper or pretender to the throne, and 3] Lowering themselves to a position of lesser importance (if just for a day or so) could serve no real purpose. Wouldn't it be ridiculous to see the top dog deliberately working his/her way down the rungs on the ladder?

Final thought

Come to think of it, that may not be such a ridiculous idea at all. Robert Thirkell once stated: "We find people at the heart of every organization who know exactly what's right and what's wrong with the organization, but between them and the bosses is a layer of people- those whose careers depend on sanitizing that information. Bosses are always surprised at how much knowledge exists further down the ladder."

Just who is this Robert Thirkell? He is the creative director at the British Broadcasting Corp. (BBC). In that capacity he figured out how to turn business into good TV and at the same time use TV to make business better. What Thirkell's secret? As indicated before this final thought, most of us and most executives are worried about climbing to the top of the ladder. But in his hit series Back to the Floor, Thirkell persuades CEOs to do just the opposite, dispatching then to the bottom rung of their organizations to spend a week as trash collectors, paramedics, baggage handlers, or waiters. The Goal: to find out what's really going on at their companies and make them better.