Golden Parachutes

Hello, you have A Way with Words.

Hi, this is Helen from San Diego.

Hello, Helen. Welcome.

Hi, Helen.

Well, I have a question.

I was wondering, I have a theory for the term, where the term golden parachute came from, and I was wondering if I could run it by you.

Sure, and by golden parachute, you mean what?

Well, the large severance packages that executives give themselves when they get fired.

Mm-mm—

So that they’re guaranteed not to fail.

Right.

You’re a teen nutter.

Right.

Well, what’s your theory, Helen?

Well, I was thinking about the crash in 29 and how my parents had told me that people jumped off of buildings or they walked out of their, you know, high story windows because they were so devastated.

And, you know, that’s a tragedy by itself.

But I was thinking, would the term parachute have come from there?

Because if somebody said, well, what are you going to do if it fails? You’d say, well, I have a parachute and it’s made of gold.

So I don’t know if that makes any sense.

Well, it’s not a bad theory.

It doesn’t really explain the term, though, unfortunately, Helen.

No.

Well, and I think I remember reading that those stories of people jumping out of windows were kind of apocryphal, right?

Is that true?

I think I read something about those being an urban legend.

I’d have to look it up.

I wonder if it happened more than once.

I don’t know.

I thought there were a lot of them, and I thought it was so sad that their lives weren’t built on more than that or that they were so short-sighted.

So I don’t know if it’s true or not.

And I mentioned to a friend, and they said you should ask A Way with Words.

Well, let’s take a look at this.

So golden parachute means that somebody can be fired, and according to the contract that they have with their company, and they’re a senior executive of some sort, maybe even the head of the whole company, the CEO or president, if they’re fired, they still get paid a big chunk of money, right?

So if they’re employed, they get a big paycheck.

If they’re fired, they get a big check, right?

So either way, they win.

And that’s what they mean by golden parachute, which is you’re leaving under very desirable conditions.

By golden, we don’t mean that it’s heavy and it’s made out of a heavy gold.

We mean that it’s glittery and golden and lovely and everything is rich and it’s got money everywhere and it’s a good positive thing.

So the earliest origin that I know of at this time, and I’m 100% sure this has popularized the term, and I’m pretty sure that this is where the term originated, was the 1973 book, What Color Is Your Parachute?

It was by Richard Bowles, Richard Nelson Bowles.

It’s B-O-L-L-E-S.

And in the book, he talks about all the different ways as a business person that you can ensure that if something should happen to the company you’re leading that you don’t come out with nothing.

He talks about negotiating your contract, negotiating with your potential employer, negotiating while you’re employed, just making sure that you win.

It’s a win-win for you, to take another piece of business jargon.

It’s a win-win all the way down the line.

So we don’t really see the term golden parachute show up much before the 70s?

No, no, we don’t.

As a matter of fact, I have not found any instances of it before 1973 in Bowles’ book.

However, since then, we do find, and maybe you know some of these, Helen, some other terms which kind of pattern on golden parachute.

Have you ever heard of the golden handshake?

No.

No. Well, a golden handshake is very similar. This is where somebody is encouraged to retire.

And as an encouragement, they’re offered all kinds of departure gifts.

Not quite severance because they’re not fired, but they’re encouraged to go under their own power rather than to be fired.

And there are things like golden handcuffs.

These are the benefits that you might get for working for a company.

Excellent bonuses and benefits that keep you at the job even though you would otherwise leave.

And a golden hello. Maybe you know that one.

And this is a term I think they use in baseball as well.

It’s a signing bonus.

Aha.

The one I’ve seen is golden bungee.

Right.

That one’s a little rarer, but that means that you’re let go.

You get a severance package.

And as part of the deal, you are somehow still affiliated with the company, and you still get like a regular consultant’s fee.

Right.

You kind of went and kind of came back, which is where the bungee reference comes in.

Exactly.

I love that, golden bungee.

Thank you very much.

You’re welcome.

Glad to talk about it.

Okay, Helen.

Bye-bye.

Bye.

Thank you.

Bye-bye.

All right.

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