avery@well.UUCP (Avery Ray Colter) (10/20/89)
DIMENSIONS Publication of the Fat-Admirers' Special Interest Group of NAAFA Volume 6, Number 3 - September 1989 RACING THE PHOENIX: RUN, DEBI, RUN The story of Debi Coleman, who at age 34 was America's youngest Fortune 200 CFO. by Dan Davis ------------- It is no secret that fat people are victimzed. They are discriminated against economically, medically, and socially. They are harassed by strangers, self-professed friends, and their own families. Rarely can fat people watch commercial television or read popular magazines without being told they are unhealthy, unlovely and unemployable. Some respond by withdrawing, and some fight back. Some internalize the bigotry, becoming their own worst enemies. A few respond by public self-depreciation, beating society to the punch by punching themselves. Debi Coleman is such a person. At age 34, Debi was Apple Computer's Chief Financial Officer, the youngest CFO in the Fortune 200. A brilliant workaholic who felt guilty if she put in less than 60 hours weekly, she once told _Business Week_ she felt "almost predestined to run General Electric." But Debi was fat, which in the eyes of corporate management meant she was seriously flawed. Modern executives were expected to be "lean and mean", hungry to surge ahead of the competition. Debi may have had twice the intelligence and three times the talent of the majority of her collegues, but she didn't look the part of a rising corporate star. And in the world of American business, conformity to corporate culture in behavior and appearance has long been regarded more highly than competence or innovative ability. That's one reason foreign competitors have been kicking the hell out of us. The saddest part is that Debi bought the line. Her weight had fluctuated since childhood, her metabolism was admittedly low, and her frame was large and muscular. She seemed a classic example of a person designed to carry extra weight, yet she allowed herself to become convinced she had an eating "disorder" which could be overcome by dieting, intensive exercise, and counseling. The required regimen was so intense that she could not maintain it concurrently with her backbreaking work schedule. Success in the corporate world too often proceeds from a willingness and ability to exploit subordinates, discredit colleagues and manipulate superiors. Few succeed through competence, intelligence, and hard work alone. Debi was one of the few, but the price was high. She lived her job every waking moment, showing little interest in maintaining a separate personal life, directing her energies outward with a ferocious determination. Her avoidance of privacy and introspection seemed equally determined. Steve Jobs, one of the two cofounders of Apple Computer, began chiding Debi about her weight. Although she sometimes snapped back at him, she seemed to believe he was nagging her for her own good and therefore should not be called to account. The fact that Jobs continued to promote her reinforced that perception. As her hours increased, her weight continued to climb. Finally, she consulted a doctor, who told her she was 110 pounds overweight and prescribed a diet, exercise and psychotherapy. In March 1987, Debi took a leave of absence, went on the Optifast diet, and began an exercise program with a personal fitness instructor. It was not long afterward that Debi was offered a CFO job at Apple. She went back to work 71 pounds lighter, resolved to continue her diet and exercise regimen. For a short time she succeeded. But things happened, as they will. Debi's work schedule became ever more hectic. She experienced physical setbacks. Then came the final blow: her younger brother, long an invalid, died at the age of 28. For the next few months Debi continued to work at fever pitch. The diet and exercise fell by the wayside. When she returned to her doctor in September 1988, she had regained 40 pounds. Her reaction bordered on panic. In fairness, there were health factors other than weight to consider. Debi's resting pulse was an abnormally high 125. Heart disease was rampant in her family. This time Debi pulled out all the stops. She took a five month leave of absence. She requested and recieved a demotion. Her fitness trainer, now also one of her two roommates, devised a diet and extensive training program under which she would supervise Debi's progress. The psychotherapy continued. Finally, there was publicity. Not invasive publicity by parasitic paparazzi, but publically encouraged and sought after by Debi herself. Publicity that would ensure her embarrassment if she failed. Debi had gone public with her previous weight sabbatical, but this time she did it with a vengeance. Her media culminated in an extensive spread in West magazine, complete with pictures, which inspired the article you're now reading. Debi made her diet - and her life - public property. In the process she has done a disservice to fat people everywhere. She has reinforced the popular stereotype of a "typical" fat person: a food addict suffering from self-imposed poor health, with an overlay of personality disorder. It could have been handled differently. Had Debi taken the time to focus her powerful intellect on available research (rather than popular "literature"), she would have found that diets almost always fail over time; that the healthiest approach to eatin g involves not dieting but a shift in dietary emphasis from fats to carbohydrates; that an effective exercise program must be susceptible to inclusion in one's life without necessitating a major disruption; that living a healthy lifestyle does not guarantee leanness; that her setpoint might dictate a higher than "normal" weight under any conditions not involving permanent semi-starvation; that many, perhaps most, of her health problems might result from internally generated stress. Of course, Debi did consult professionals. But she consulted professionals who told her what she expected to hear. She consulted professionals who did no more than hand her conventional wisdom about fat people, the kind of checksheet wisdom which rarely applies to actual persons. Especially persons as intelligent and complex as Debi. Something within Debi drives her to fill her life with activity. Even on leave she is constantly busy, always with others, never in solitude. I think she is racing the phoenix. The phoenix is a legendary bird said to periodically consume itself in fire and then rise from the ashes to live again. Sometimes people behave like the phoenix, burning down parts of their lives in the hope of rising renewed from the ashes. Then they start running, hoping to escape the deep dissatisfaction which caused the fire in the first place. But you can't outrun the phoenix. The faster you go, the sooner it catches up. When it does, you burn, rise and run again, but each time you rise a little more slowly, a little less fully. You only win by stopping to confront - and accept - the part of yourself that gave the phoenix life. Debi Coleman ------------ 1953: Born in New England to John and Joan Coleman. Weight problem since age 7. 1975: Brown University; English major; Thesis "The Nature of Art in Nabokov's Major Novels." Joins General Electric's Financial Management Program MBA at Stanford 1978: Joined Hewlett-Packard - size 16 at 5'6-1/2" 1981: Recruited by Steven Jobs to Apple Computer as Controller of the Macintosh Division 1984: whips Fremont Macintosh factory into shape 1985: Promoted to Vice President for worldwide manufacturing. 1986: Called one of 50 "fast track kids" by Business Week 1987: Doctor decrees her 110 pounds overweight. Takes short sabbatical to go on Optifast. Loses 70 pounds. Becomes Chief Financial Officer of Apple Computer; youngest CFO in Fortune 200 and only woman in this job. 1989: Has regained 40 pounds. Goes on 5 month sabbatical to lose weight, requests and receives demotion. Upon return to Apple, will be V.P. tax and treasury, reports to her old position. Quote: "IF I COULD LOSE A TOTAL OF 90 POUNDS AND KEEP OT OFF -- EVERYONE HAS THEIR OWN DEFINITION OF SUCCESS." -- Avery Ray Colter (415) 451-7786 | Now, class, repeat after me: {apple|ucbvax|pacbell}!well!avery | ICH LIEBE DIE BELEIBTEN LEIBEN, avery@well.sf.ca.us | UND HUPFENDE HUEFTE HABE ICH GERN!