Elephants and squirrels

Executives are just like other people in many respects; in other respects, not so much, but we must remember that executives are people too.

One characteristic of people that inhabit the executive ranks that I find interesting is that they are typically split into two groups on the ability to retain and remember facts over time. Perhaps it is my selective memory at play here but it seems to me, from my decades of experience, that executives either are like elephants, in that they remember everything (they remember where the conversation was had, what was said, who was there, the weather outside, the stains on the carpet – all in great detail), or they are like squirrels in that they can't remember much at all. They say the same things repeatedly and repetitively. They ask people to do the same or similar projects within days or weeks of each request. They seem to be surprised when most of the people in the room understand immediately or seem...