Where Fun Comes to Die

Glass ceilings are typically easier to feel than to see, but here is some rare footage of a glass ceiling in its natural habitat — the business world.  Under the headline “CBS executive asks: How do you want to be remembered?” CBS television exec (and female) Terry Wood discusses what lessons business executives can learn about personal branding from television personalities:

Q: OK, what about business executives who have achieved success? What can they learn from TV personalities?

A: TV personalities draw the audience in by commanding the screen and making you want to watch. A good leader does the same thing: inspires you, draws you into the process. Leaders must face their audiences, not sit in their offices. They have to be bold and step out there and lead and get people excited about working for them.

Q: Surely, you don’t recommend that executives take time in the middle of the day to watch Judge Judy or Dr. Phil?

A: The way those personalities connect, I think a lot of leaders in business could learn from it. Leaders have to cut to the chase and make their points, so I think they can learn from watching these celebrities. Many do. If they aren’t able to watch on their DVRs, their wives certainly tell them about it.

Did you see the glass ceiling invoked?  In this case it is the suggestion that leaders of business are all straight males with wives who stay home watching daytime television.  Terry Wood is apparently ranked no. 32 among Hollywood Reporter‘s 100 most powerful women in entertainment, ahead of Tina Fey, Rachael Ray, Tyra Banks and Miley Cyrus, and she seems to want to stay there — even if it means pulling up the businesswoman ladder behind her that she herself climbed up.