Wrong shoes

He had the wrong shoes to be a chief executive.   They were black but matt black and flexible.  They weren’t a sturdy pair of brogues or a pair of Oxfords, polished and buffed with shiny toe caps.  They didn’t have laces tied in double bows over a pair of strong feet in black socks.  Instead they had Velcro fasteners and moulded soles like the shoes of a six year old.    But they were comfortable, like the shoes you see in the back of the Sunday magazines.

You can be comfortable in the position of chief executive but being a chief executive is not about comfort, it is about being powerful, it is about being authoritative, it is about being inspirational.  Power does not wear comfort shoes. 

They were not the shoes to sit underneath a mahogany board room table where important and powerful decisions were being made. They were not the shoes to stand firm on the deep deep carpets of a conference room, behind the lectern whilst an important presentation or pitch was being given.  They were not the shoes to rest cross legged in business class, with champagne being sipped while the Financial Times is read.  They were not the shoes to stride the corridors of power, creating the right impression, setting the right standard.  No, they were just plain wrong. 

They were weekend shoes, junior managers’ shoes, and retired persons’ shoes, made for distance, made for comfort but not made for power.  They were not the shoes of a chief executive.

He didn’t last long.  He soon went and so did his shoes.  He had paid the price for the wrong choice of footwear.  The press release said that he had left to pursue his other interests but we all knew the real story.  It was the shoes that were his undoing.