have a better understanding of my belief in nepotism and primogeniture, a belief not shared by my younger brothers." Without any provocation on my part he immediately went on to say "Fifty two weeks ago Ed Littlefield spoke at the Lakeside on "Enjoying the Corporate Clime," a subject on which he has considerable personal expertise. He was a smash hit, although the Business Council was divided on whether to compliment him or to censure him. For those of you who missed Ed's talk, I can recap it for you in a sentence or two. One, it makes good sense for a CEO to have his best friend as chairman of his Compensation Committee. It is even better if the first CEO happens to be chairman of his friend's Compensation Committee. Two, if the toilet on the Corporate jet is too small, the solution is amazingly simple - you buy a bigger jet. That was about it. Now, a year and several golden parachutes later, it's my turn. I considered countering with a subject in which I have considerable expertise, "Enduring the Corporate Descent." But then I thought back on the principal incentives in the hierarchy of the Corporate World which Ed listed with such satisfaction - airplanes, yachts and vacation spas. Well, Ed, we had all those things as kids and didn't have to worry about the IRS, so for us there was no place to climb - it was more of a slide. As a matter of fact, Ed was gauche enough at one time, in introducing me, to point out that of the four old time Western Companies of which I had been a director all have been sold, merged or simply disappeared. My services as a director, said he, are now in demand only by corporations seeking to be taken over. He was kind enough, however, to observe that I had been the President of the S. F. Chamber of Commerce, the Stanford Board of Trustees, and the Bohemian Club but, said he, I have never been the President of anything that made me any money. I must add with a certain 4