Saturday, February 05, 2005

It's Not Just Executive Compensation

by Tom Bozzo

I previously complained that Maureen Dowd failed to name names in her much-discussed column on the marrying habits of powerful men. This morning's New York Times article on the spectacular compensation of Wall Street executive assistants satisfies my curiosity somewhat. (It also challenges me to take note of the blog's new subtitle.) Towards the end of the article, we learn:
And there is a long history of chief executives marrying their assistants or attendants. Mr. Grasso's wife worked for a time before their marriage as his assistant at the exchange during the 1970's. His successor, John S. Reed, married the flight attendant on his corporate jet. Carl C. Icahn, the financier, as well as Kenneth L. Lay and Jeffrey K. Skilling, the former chief executives of Enron, also married their assistants.

Hmm, Dick Grasso, Kenny Boy, and Jeff Skilling: such princes! Perhaps I need to reconsider the explanatory power of economic theories of marriage.
// posted by Tom Bozzo @ 1:43 PM
Comments:
Also, though, it might be due to time constraints. People in these sorts of positions (as well as their executive assistants) tend to be at work at all times when they are not sleeping (and sleep very little). It may be that they have very meager social lives outside of the office.
# posted by Blogger tina : Tue Feb 08, 07:37:00 AM
 
That's a good point, Tina. Though the Platonic ideal of the NY Times "Vows" section can seem to be the M.D.-J.D./Ph.D.-M.D. couple that somehow manages to get together despite five or six normal careers' worth of vocations and avocations.

Anyway, I wonder how executive first and second marriage habits differ, if at all -- that could be telling, and I'd imagine there's enough public information to assemble a nice data set.
# posted by Blogger Tom Bozzo : Tue Feb 08, 09:27:00 AM
 
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