Think you want to get in line, hop on the train that's on a career track that leads to the corner office? Maybe it's time to think again.

        A report from At-A-Glance, a Sidney, N.Y.-based company that produces record-keeping products for personal and professional use, offers some insight into what actually goes on each day in the office of a chief executive of a large company.

        It isn't all two-hour lunches over seafood diablo, practice putting a golf ball into a glass cup and conference calls about tennis dates — though there is probably plenty of that going on.

        No, a new survey of Fortune 500 chief executives shows that an unfailing work ethic is one of the critical job requirements.

        If the chief executives answered the survey truthfully, the average work week for them is about 61.3 hours.

        Not one respondent indicated that they clock less than 40 hours per week, although there were some embattled brass that indicated 100 hours a week was normal.

        That's seven days a week and, oh, about 14 hours a day. That man or woman is either chained to his desk or a really really big fibber.

        What are they doing with their time?

        Assuming that this survey is in a mendacity-free zone, about 48 percent said plain old management takes up most of their day.

        That is, ABOUT half the people surveyed spent the bulk of their time trying to get other people on the payroll to actually earn their paycheck.

        Strategic planning and forecasting was the top time-killer listed by 22.5 percent of the chief executives, while 20 percent said financial performance and budgeting was the duty that claimed most of their time.

        Organizational development and shareholder relations/public relations rounded out the survey of how time was spent.

        Was there nothing in the survey to indicate why our nation is dotted with all those country clubs and golf courses?

        This much we know: those country clubs aren't there for all the brown-bag-carrying factory workers. Maybe time on the links falls under shareholder relations.

        The next time a chief executive wrings his over-worked hands because of bad shareholder relations and a void of public relations, assume that a new tee time is somewhere on his calendar.

        The survey from the fall had 102 respondents out of 500 chief executives who received the questionnaire.

Money does buy happiness

        Two researchers at Warwick University in England have laid to rest the adage that money doesn't buy happiness.

        That's a maxim that usually comes from people with plenty of the former and too much for their own good of the latter.

        They tracked 9,000 families over a decade to see if cash windfalls — that can mean a company bonus, lottery check or inheritance — will lead to contentment.

        Does money mean happiness?

        You bet it does.

        As little as $1,400 brought plenty of halcyon days and nights for most working people and their families, the researchers found.

        Though hardly a windfall, that amount meant that the average person turned into a pretty pleasant guy to have around. One revelation from the survey was probably not so stunning.

        “The more you get the better you feel,” professor and researcher Andrew Oswald told BBC radio.

        E-mail jeckberg@enquirer.com. Past columns at Enquirer.com/columns/eckberg.

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