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HENRY KISSINGER was guilty of understatement when he said that power is the ultimate aphrodisiac. In fact, power is the ultimate life-improver tout court. Powerful people not only have more friends than the rest of us. They also enjoy better health. Numerous studies demonstrate that low status is more strongly associated with heart disease than physical hazards like obesity and high blood pressure.
The benefits of power have grown dramatically in recent years. CEOs and other C-suite types have seen their salaries surge at a time when the median wage has either stagnated (in the United States) or grown slowly (in Europe). Politicians have learned how to monetise their pull. The Clintons earned $109m in the eight years after they left the White House. Tony Blair has turned himself into a wealthy man in the three years since his retirement from national politics.
But the greasy pole is getting harder to climb and, once you’ve climbed it, harder to cling on to. Companies have introduced more complicated structures—removing layers, replacing hierarchies with teams and dispersing functions around the world. They have also made life harder for chief executives. In the 1990s it was not unusual to find CEOs who had been in the job for ten or 15 years. Over the past decade the average tenure of departing CEOs around the world has dropped from 8.1 years to 6.3 years. In the 1990s it was the norm for CEOs to double dip as chairmen (which allowed them to report to themselves). In 2009 less than 12% of incoming CEOs were also given the job of chairman.

A. 어휘
understatement 삼가는 표현. ultimate 궁극적인.
aphrodisiac 媚藥(미약), 최음제. tout court 간단히 말해서.
hazards 위험한 것. obesity 비만. benefits 이득, 特典(특전).
C-suite=the group of officers of a business organization 최고경영자집단.
suite 일행, 한 벌, 한 조, 수행원. surge 증가하다, 물결이 굽이치다.
median 中數(중수)의pull. median wage 평균임금.
stagnate 정체되다. pull 牽引力(견인력), 연줄.
monetise their pull 권력(영향력)을 돈으로 변형시키다.
retirement 퇴임. politics 정치.
Greasy pole or grease pole refers to a pole that has been made slippery and thus difficult to grip. 기름 바른 장대기름 바른 장대(기어오르거나 걷는 놀이 도구).
cling on to 계속 달라붙다. complicated 복잡한.
layers 層(층)〈직급〉. hierarchies 계급.
disperse 분산시키다, 撒布(살포)하다. chief executives 최고경영자, 행정수반.
tenure 在任(재임)기간, 유지, 보유. departing 離任(이임)하는.
norm 표준, 기준. double dip 겸임하다.