By Peter Faur

Ed Whitacre has been one of the country's most visible CEOs for more than 20 years. As chairman of Southwestern Bell Corp. - which he renamed SBC Corp. - he put Humpty Dumpty back together again, using the hospitable regulatory environment of the 1990s and 2000s to reassemble the regional Bell operating companies that had been split apart during the1980s by a federal consent decree. As the icing on the cake, he renamed his company a second time, reclaiming the venerable AT&T name used by one of his last acquisitions. AT&T, of course, was the company from which SBC (and Whitacre) had been spun off in 1984.

The tall, legendary Texan retired in 2007, taking a $158 million payout with him. He kept himself busy by sitting on ExxonMobil's board and serving as a$1-million-a-year consultant to the company he rebuilt, AT&T. Then last year, President Obama asked him to become the chairman of General Motors, hoping that Whitacre could reinvigorate another cherished American institution. Before long, Whitacre forced the resignation of GM CEO Fritz Henderson and, after a short search for a successor, took the job himself.

It turns out that, in addition to the $158 million payout he received from AT&T, Whitacre also negotiated other benefits, including a lifetime claim to 20 hours a month on AT&T jets for his personal use. This arrangement has been in the fine print of AT&T's public documents since it was negotiated, but it's coming to light now that Whitacre allegedly is using his AT&T jet time to commute between San Antonio and Detroit. You can learn more from this article in the Detroit News.

Sixty percent of GM is owned by the U.S. government,which stipulated as part of its rescue that the automaker had to sell its fleet of seven jets. So Whitacre, who is used to traveling at will on Gulfstreams and similar aircraft, appears to be using his AT&T jet time to fly into and out of the Motor City.

Are you outraged? I'm not, at least not at Ed Whitacre. He negotiated his deal with AT&T fairly and squarely. He's not using his air time to head to parties in Cabo; instead, he's commuting to Detroit to try to salvage a once-great American company.

AT&T's board of directors didn't have to authorize Air Whitacre, but it did. It seems to be an unnecessary gift to a man who could easily pay for charter flights for himself. But if you or I had a similar deal, we'd take advantage of it. You can't blame Whitacre for doing so.

If shareholders are upset by the arrangement, they should voice their disapproval. If the board continues to act contrary to shareholders' wishes, it can and should be ousted at the ballot box. That probably won't happen. If it doesn't, shareholders have no one to blame but themselves.

What do you think?

Grammar tip: The letters "ATM" stand for "automated teller machine." Saying that you're going to the ATM machine is, therefore, redundant. Just say you're going to the ATM.

While you're here, look around the blog. (Use the "Back to Main Page" button in the right-hand column if you landed here directly.) If you wish, you can subscribe via e-mail or RSS feed. The tools to do so are in the right-hand column. Please follow me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/peterfaur.    

        

By Peter Faur

The Tennessee Hospitality Association wasted no time in parting ways with its CEO, Walt Baker, who issued an e-mail last week comparing First Lady Michelle Obama with a chimpanzee. (See yesterday's RightPoint blog entry for more information.)

"Walt’s email reflects a deep misunderstanding of the nature of hospitality and our role as an association. His email was sent in his personal capacity and not in his connection with the hospitality associations,” the THA's board president, Bill Mish, said in a news release.

This obviously was the only action that could have been taken. The association acted swiftly and wisely in distancing itself from the author of an e-mail that could not be defended. Here's hoping that its next CEO will quickly return the association to its mission of helping its members, Tennessee's hotels and restaurants, make customers feel welcome regardless of race, color or creed.

Grammar tip: Use "got" to indicate that you have something in your possession: "I've got five dollars in my pocket." "Gotten" implies the process of getting hold of something: "I've gotten five dollars for that item in the past, but you might be able to get six today."

        

By Peter Faur

As CEOs go, Walt Baker has been relatively anonymous until now. After his recent brush with notoriety, let's hope we never hear from him again.

Baker is the head of the Tennessee Hospitality Association, the organization charged with representing the state's hotels and restaurants and, well, making everyone feel welcome in the state.

How's this for hospitality? Baker recently sent out an e-mail that began by saying, "I don't care who you are . . . this is funny." He then attached a picture of First Lady Michelle Obama and a picture of a chimpanzee, saying that Mrs. Obama looked a lot like Tarzan's sidekick, Cheetah. You can read more about it here.

Of course, now that the e-mail has come to light, he's contrite. He's disappointed in himself.

"I did not think or consider its implications, other than that it was political humor," he said. "I am saddened that anyone misinterpreted the sentiments behind the e-mail. I deeply apologize to anyone who is offended by this action. I hope that those who know me realize that the message was not intended to be malicious or hurtful in any way and can find it in their hearts to forgive me."

I don't know you, Mr. Baker, but, forgiveness or no forgiveness, you have to go. I don't think anyone misinterpreted your sentiments; they're obvious.

This is such an egregious, stupid action that there's no way your board can stand behind you. A hospitality association CEO who spews such vile and has no clue that, in the 21st century,  his e-mail WILL come to light, cannot continue in your position.

The Nashville Convention and Visitors Bureau acted quickly to sever its ties with the hospitality association. If they have any sense, Baker's board will do the same.

Grammar tip: Use the modifier "only" with precision. It's not precise to say, "The budget can only be balanced if programs are cut." Instead, say, "The budget can be balanced only if programs are cut."

While you're here, look around the blog. (Use the "Back to Main Page" button in the right-hand column if you landed here directly.) If you wish, you can subscribe via e-mail or RSS feed. The tools to do so are in the right-hand column. Please follow me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/peterfaur 

        

By Peter Faur

Would you want to be a chief executive officer of a major company? The life looks glamorous, the compensation can be extraordinary, and the power seems virtually limitless.

Pull the curtain back, however, and the picture is much more complex. People who sit in the CEO's chair face a never-ending stream of tough challenges, demanding audiences and often gut-wrenching decisions. It's no wonder that a record 1,482 CEOs resigned, retired or stepped down from public and private companies in 2008, and another 1,227 left their jobs in 2009, according to Challenger, Gray & Christmas, a company that helps laid-off executives find work.

The best (Steve Jobs at Apple, Howard Schultz at Starbucks) and the worst (Dennis Kozlowski at Tyco, Kenneth Lay at Enron) end up famous or notorious. The stereotype is that they're all cut from the same cloth - hard-charging, demanding, arrogant, rude and egotistical. The truth, however, is that CEOs come in all shapes, sizes and temperaments. And regardless of what you think of them, it's nearly universally true that they've endured a lot of sacrifice and suffering along the way.

I've had a good vantage point from which to watch CEOs over the years. I've served as an in-house speechwriter for three of them, and I've worked with a couple of others on annual reports and special events. It's with that experience that I'm dedicating this blog to a regular study of CEOs. What makes them tick? What makes them effective or ineffective? Who shows extraordinary leadership? Who succeeds or fails, and why? How can people who work with them - especially public relations people - make themselves useful and valuable to CEOs? Along the way, we'll applaud them, criticize them and try to draw lessons from their successes and failures.

Whether you work with one, or you have something to say about specific CEOs or the breed in general, join in the conversation. I think we'll all learn a lot.

Grammar tip: Which phrase is correct - "in regards to" or "in regard to"? The second is correct, but it's best to avoid it as well. There are simpler, more direct ways  to express the same sentiment. For example, instead of writing, "This letter is in regard to your telephone call of March 5," just say, "This letter concerns your telephone call of March 5" or "I'm writing about your telephone call of March 5."

While you're here, look around the blog. If you wish, you can subscribe via e-mail or RSS feed. The tools to do so are in the right-hand column. Please follow me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/peterfaur

        

By Peter Faur

The correct answer to last week's grammar contest was "D." Two people, Tony Felice and Peggy, had the right answer, as did Barbara Deters (although she entered through LinkedIn instead of through this site).

I've decided to call an early end to the five-week giveaway because response to the contest has been light. As a result, I'm giving copies of The Elements of Style to Tony, Peggy and Barbara. Also, I'm sending one copy to Cole Lannum, who was randomly selected from the first week's contest entries.

I'm planning to take The Right Point in a new direction, which I'll explain soon. Thanks for your continuing support and interest.

Grammar tip: In recent years, the word "learnings" has become part of the corporate lexicon. It's silly and pretentious. Use the word "lessons" instead.

        

By Peter Faur

Last week's winner of a copy of The Elements of Style was Pam Baggett of Austin, Tex. To be eligible for a chance to win this week, just take part in the following contest.

Below are four sentences. To qualify, just leave a comment with the letter of the sentence that has no errors. I'll select the winner Sunday after 1 p.m. Mountain Standard Time.

If you want an extra chance to win, send out a Tweet with this message: "Take a grammar quiz to win a copy of The Elements of Style. Go here to enter the contest: http://su.pr/1L1B93 #rightpoint"

Good luck. Here are the four sentences:

A. I don't know what they're doing, but its taking forever to finish the construction.
B. I don't know what there doing, but it's taking forever to finish the construction.
C. I don't know what their doing, but its taking forever to finish the construction.
D. I don't know what they're doing, but it's taking forever to finish the construction.

Grammar tip:  You'd never say, "The boss came to visit I," so don't say, "The boss came to visit John and I." The pronoun is the direct object of the verb "to visit," so you want to say, "The boss came to visit John and me."

While you're here, look around the blog. If you wish, you can subscribe via e-mail or RSS feed. The tools to do so are in theright-hand column. Please follow me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/peterfaur

        

By Peter Faur

For the next five weeks, I'll be giving away a free copy each week of William Strunk Jr.'s classic book on grammar and writing, The Elements of Style. Even if you have a copy of what is now commonly called "Strunk and White," you might want to enter the contest. The version I'm giving away contains only Strunk's original text, which he wrote for his students at Cornell University in 1918. It wasn't until 1959 that Strunk's student, E. B. White, published an edition that included his revisions and additions.

Anyone who writes for a living will want a copy of the Strunk and White version. Strunk's solo effort, however, contains the heart of the book, and it's an interesting study of how one man helped tame the vagaries of English grammar and composition for his students. Most of his advice is still sound nearly a century after he first published it.

How can you win? Leave a comment on the blog answering the question, "Which grammatical or spelling error most annoys you?" On Sunday, Feb. 21, I'll put all entrants' names in a spread sheet and use a random number generator to select the winner. The cutoff time will be noon Sunday, Mountain Standard Time. I'll start a new contest on Monday, Feb. 22

If you want an extra chance to win, send this text out as a tweet: "Want to win a copy of The Elements of Style? Go here: http://su.pr/1L1B93 Please RT. #rightpoint"

Grammar tip: Don't use the word "most" for "almost." Something might happen almost all the time, not most all the time.

(While you're here, look around the blog. If you wish, you can subscribe via e-mail or RSS feed. The tools to do so are in the right-hand column. Please follow me on Twitter at twitter.com/peterfaur.)

        

By Peter Faur

If you're a speechwriter living anywhere in the Snow Belt, take a break and clear your head with a trip to Scottsdale, Ariz. You can do so guilt-free Feb. 24-25 by attending Communitelligence's two-day seminar on Executive Communications and Speechwriting in the New Media Age.

You'll learn:

• The best ways to keep the matter of reputation on the minds of senior executives.
• The strategic opportunities - and risks - for executive communications in the new media age.
• What executives want from their public relations staffs to help build and safeguard reputations.
• What the future holds for reputation management and corporate leadership.

A highlight of the seminar will be "Speechwriting Jam Session 2010," led by Vital Speeches of the Day editor David Murray. Through dramatic readings from winners of the 2010 Cicero Speechwriting Awards and highlight reels from the Vital Speeches YouTube site, Murray will share excerpts from speeches contemporary and classic, famous and rare. (In the true spirit of an improvisational jam session, you’ll have a chance to nominate some of your own YouTube favorites, so come prepared!)

For those living in and around Phoenix, the seminar also presents an opportunity for a close-up look at the area's most interesting new office building, the North American headquarters of Henkel AG, which owns the Dial Corp. This building is LEED-certified and incorporates a variety of sustainable building elements.

If you sign up by Feb. 15, you can deduct $100 from the two-day fee of $895. I'll be moderating one of the panel sessions, and I'd love to meet a few of you.

Grammar tip: There's no need to say "oftentimes." The word "often" will suffice.

        

By Peter Faur

We're not close, but I've had the privilege of meeting Kurt and Brenda Warner on several occasions. They were gracious enough to attend a fundraiser in 2008 for the Phoenix Zoo, which I serve as a board member, and my wife and I have had the opportunity to attend events in support of their foundation, First Things First. There's not much I can add to all that's already been said about both of them. I can testify, however, that they are the real deal.

I was living in St. Louis in 1999, the year Kurt emerged from obscurity to play a key role in leading the ragtag Rams from worst to first. I attended the last game he played for the New York Giants, against the Arizona Cardinals, before he lost his starting quarterback position to Eli Manning. Living in Phoenix, I watched his time with the Cardinals become the final, triumphant stage of his career. I was there at his last home game for the Cardinals, that heart-stopping 51-45 victory over the Green Bay Packers. I've never seen another career quite like his. What he achieved on the field is remarkable. What he achieved inside his head and heart is more remarkable still.

Kurt's not regretting his retirement for one second, it seems. He knows the roles of philanthropist, father and husband are still there for him, and he's eager to to take them on fully. It's been gratifying to watch Kurt and Brenda, through First Things First, collect winter coats for needy kids in St. Louis, help provide homes for single-mom households in Phoenix, and raise money for flood victims in their native Iowa. (You can see them in the photo above helping out during the Iowa floods. Brenda's in the white cap.) They'll be moving on to even bigger roles of service now.

I have friends who say the Warners' openness about Christianity makes them uncomfortable. The thing I respect about both Kurt and Brenda, however, is they appear in no way to be judgmental about other people. They're not here to judge, they're here to help. That, coupled with an unrelenting pursuit of excellence, make these folks unusual and extraordinary.

There are plenty of self-righteous evangelists giving Christianity a bad name as they declare that specific floods, tornadoes, hurricanes and earthquakes are God's punishment against some group they don't like. Don't confuse Kurt and Brenda with these legalistic pot stirrers. They're not looking to put other people down but to pull them up. We should all be trying to join or emulate them.

Grammar tip: Keep related words together, or you'll confuse your reader. Don't say, "He noticed a large dent in the car that was on the side." Say, "He noticed a large dent on the side of the car."

        

By Peter Faur

I've been driving alone a lot this week. This afternoon, I began thinking about movies that have mattered to me, and I gave myself a quick exercise: Without any deliberation, name the first movie that comes to mind from each decade of my life. Here's my list:

• Decade One (0 to 9 years old): Old Yeller (1957). I still remember how the tears flowed when that dog had to be shot. I'd heard of rabies, but I had no idea how ugly they could be.
• Decade Two (10 to 19): Help (1965). Looking back on it, this film was more labored than the Beatles first movie, A Hard Day's Night. I remember it because I saw it with a good friend, John Northlake, and we saw it in one of the old, ornate movie palaces in downtown St. Louis, Loew's State. The music lives on, but there will never be movie theaters like this again - a single screen and more than 3,400 seats.
• Decade Three (20 to 29): Straw Dogs (1971). Ok, it's violent and it's crude, and for haters of Sam Peckinpah, it's all the ammunition they need to skewer him. I found it cathartic. Dustin Hoffman's character, David Summer, is a milquetoast mathematician who gets pushed once too often by a taunting wife and a gang of bullies. He becomes a one-man war machine as he stands up for a mentally disabled man. By the time the fighting ends, he's thrown boiling oil on some of the bad guys, killed one with a fire poker and taken out another with a bear trap around the neck! It's powerful, primitive stuff.
• Decade Four (30 to 39): Return of the Jedi (1983). The good guys won, and the special effects were state of the art. But the reason I remember this movie is that it was an early lesson in fatherhood. My son, Paul, was 3 at the time and wanted to see the movie. OK by me, I thought, underestimating how it might scare the bejabbers out of him. We stayed until the end, but he ended up sitting in my lap, turning away when it got too intense for him. Needless to say, I gave more thought to movies we saw after that. On a good note, he turned out to be a wonderful, creative young man, so no permanent harm, I guess.
• Decade Five (40 to 49): American Beauty (1999). There's no better film to capture the antsiness and anxiety of midlife. Too bad that Kevin Spacey's character, Lester Burnham, met such an untimely death. Once he worked all the craziness out of his system, there's no telling what he might have achieved.
• Decade Six (50 to 59): O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000). After Fargo, I was already a fan of the Coen brothers. This movie was so quirky, so funny, and looking back, it seems like such a perfect way to launch the new millennium, a really good laugh before the downward spiral of the decade.

These aren't all great movies, and there are many that I personally hold in higher regard. But for whatever reason, these are the ones that came to mind first. That's my list; what's yours? Play along. We all know, of course, that the younger you are, the shorter your list will be.

Grammar tip: People often mistakenly use the word "if" when they really mean "whether." Use "if" to express a condition: You may borrow my car if you have proof of insurance. Use "whether" to express alternatives: She didn't know whether she should go or not.