Hit with the question: Were you spanked? CEOs say yes

Spanking. Though we'd certainly rather not, we resort to it from time to time because sometimes nothing else works. It's not because we want to raise a CEO. Via Slate.com's Today's Papers column, from an article of the same title by Del Jones in USA Today:

The debate over whether CEOs are born or made remains unresolved, but there is one thing they overwhelmingly have in common. As children, they were paddled, belted, switched or swatted. Child psychologists wince at such a finding. They warn that spanking slows mental development and hinders achievement. They say the last thing parents need in the back of their minds is a suggestion or justification that the rod is the road to vision, ruthless drive and other leadership traits common to CEOs. But USA TODAY interviewed about 20 CEOs over three months and, while none said they were abused, neither were any spared… University of New Hampshire sociology professor Murray Straus, author of Beating the Devil Out of Them, has been studying corporal punishment since 1969 and says it comes as no surprise that almost every CEO was spanked. They mostly grew up in the 1950s and 1960s. Although the systematic use of corporal punishment has declined steadily, 90% of toddlers are still spanked at least once, he says, and a 1998 Gallup Poll found that 55% of parents agreed with the statement "A good hard spanking is sometimes necessary." But Straus says evidence points to corporal punishment as detrimental. If some spanked children grow up to be successful, even billionaires, it's like saying, go ahead and smoke because two-thirds of smokers don't get lung cancer, he said. "We don't allow any other humans to be legally hit," says Nadine Block, executive director of the Center for Effective Discipline.

"Son, if you don't do what I say, I'm going to make you a CEO."