So, the President/CEO of company BigHugeCorp was in town today, and I had the opportunity to give him a tour of our offices, and ended up spending a lot of time with him.

Why? Because besides doing big-gun project and program management for software and services projects, I managed the physical remodel of our current office digs, so when dignitaries come into town, I'm usually tapped to give the tour.

Interesting experience. Our CEO is new to the company, and where the last guy was a "kick ass and take names" kind of guy (who probably never would have visited the Austin office, but did phenomenal things for getting BigHugeCorp into its current market domination), this guy is a bridge builder. He was stopping to talk to everyone we met -- in the halls, the breakroom, their offices ...

He was asking about their families, what their spouse did, how old their kids were, and so on.

And he remembered all that stuff hours later when he ran into them again. That's a gift. Stereotypically, CEOs are arrogant SOBs, and it's tough to get in their space at all. This guy doesn't seem to be that at all.

So it was cool to spend that much time with a guy in the kind of position to which I wouldn't normally have access, but I figured something out -- the tour guide gets ignored.

I'm supposed to be there, so I'm kind of movable scenery. Kind of a corporate extra, if you will (see, life imitates art).

So I had all this time to spend with CEO, and no real interaction.

Yeah, I know. Whoas me.

I did get to do something cool for someone else. But I'll let him tell you about it ...

Oh, and this guy is different than the president I mentioned going to dinner with recently. That guy (who I really respect and admire) is the president of the wholly owned subsidiary that I call home for ~70 hours a week. The guy from today is the big dog of the mega company that owns my subsidiary (which I'm unfortunately currently letting own me).