Is Ms. York in League with Gordon Gekko?
I received an AMA submission from a Bluesky follower:
Because you market your services to corporate executives, is it more accurate to say you're actively rewarding financial greed, or you're just complicit in its encouragement?
Well, l have been called a "corporate femme fatale villainess" and told I have the spirit of a pirate, so take my words with a grain of salt.
Allow me to present my case and you be the judge.
The point is, ladies and gentlemen, greed is good. Greed works, greed is right. Greed clarifies, cuts through, and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit...
I kid, I kid.
Dear "Executive"
I write to you “executive”—whether you quite literally be a CEO, an aspiring one, a mid-level manager, a knowledge worker, a professor, a personal trainer, or a kindergarden teacher. Whatever your profession, you’ve jumped through society’s professional hoops—college, credentials, and internships as you’ve made your way in the world. You got your foot in the door and have clawed your way upwards and onwards.
As you’ve made your ascent, your status is reflected in the car you drive, the house you live in—a place in the suburbs with a white picket fence. Huzzah for the American Dream.
Whatever your professional ambitions—you live in a culture which glorifies this secular pilgrim’s progress. There’s a good chance your family and culture hold climbing the corporate ladder to be a high status quest. The pinnacle of the climb is to one day become CEO and go to Disneyland.
The Problem
The climb can begin to feel less like a glorious ascent upward and onward and more like a dull spin on a hamster wheel. Nothing is exciting anymore: the next promotion, the next car, the next conference, the proverbial "gold watch". Bored and stifled, you may find yourself asking, "Is this all?"
I thought that part of me had died. — Mr. J, executive coaching client
The Pitch
That's where I come in as your executive coach. Time with me in my office is a shot to the arm of excitement and a dash of danger. Do I mean to encourage you on your path to corporate glory? Push you in any particular professional direction? That is your decision to make. Whatever your path, I hope to ignite a spark of adventure, romance, and creativity that may have fallen dormant.
…the entire experience felt vibrant and heightened. This combination (of connection and stimulation) cultivated a simultaneous feeling of comfort and novelty, which is a rare occurrence that left me feeling alive and energized…— Mr. H, executive coaching client
Conclusion
So do I actively reward greed, or am I complicit in its encouragement? I reject the question. I know what it’s like to be hungry—for life, for pleasure, for excitement. I reward those who name their hungers, embrace them, and marshal their resources to satisfy them.
In conclusion, I am not a destroyer of [men], I am a liberator of them...
I kid again. Kind of.
I’ll let Monty Python have the last word.
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“Greed is good” speech