President’s report
“My God, this is a hell of a job! I have no trouble with my enemies . . . but my damn friends, they're the ones that keep me walking the floor nights.”
—President Warren Gamaliel Harding

The president's report is suppose to be a summary of the previous fiscal year. This is then a historical report of what happened six to eighteen months ago.

If you have a competent president, who understands what is required, the owners will get a condensed accurate report on what decisions the board made and an outline of what the board intends to do in the new fiscal year.

Self-promoting
However, it is common for a president to ramble off topic and use this opportunity to blow his own horn and to take cheap shots at the previous board's decisions and his current political opponents.

I marvel when I read the financial statements that tell me that the Reserves are underfunded by $588, 000 and there is an annual operating deficit and the president ignores all of that and brags how an other director and her served coffee and home-made cookies in the lobby for an informal Christmas reception—at no cost to the corporation.

It's great to know that the board is focused on the right priorities.

Sometimes, when the president gets provoked, he will hurl abuse and threats towards an owner which springs the chairman into action to shut the president up and stifle the swearing and the slander.

Electioneering
Many presidents can't resist informing the owners how hard he and the other board members work, what a great team they are and how they do so much work and lose countless nights sleep for no pay.

All of this is to give the incumbents an edge over the challengers.

An ungrateful free-loader

Then he may go on about how discouraging it is when their efforts are not appreciated when they do so much for the benefit of a bunch of ungrateful free-loaders. At this point ushers should be walking through the teary crowd handing out boxes of tissues.

Yet he will fight like a tiger to hang on to his office.

I love amateur political theatre.

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