Aside from not wanting to take a substantial cut in pay, the problems I solve for companies have measurable and close to immediate results, which I find much more satisfying. In addition, I prefer working in near complete isolation, with my only connections to the world of endless meetings and tiresome discussions being electronic ones that can be switched off at will.

I would miss being able to just walk away from my desk on a nice summer day to fire up the smoker for a batch of ribs, heading to the beach, or taking off an entire day in the middle of the week to go out to the racetrack for a club track day. I put in the same 60-70 hrs a week most Presidents log (at least those capable of staying awake all day), but I have much more freedom to decide when I put in those hours, and what I do during them.

For putting up with that level of aggravation and invasion of privacy I'd want no less than $150 million a year tax free, plus my own private island when I was finished. You only live once, and anyone willing to sell five years to a decade of their life for cheap is a fool IMO. One out of ten presidents seem to do so out of a sense of service, the rest tend to be power junkies and bottom feeders.

oc