An Abundance of Ink

Time Warner watchers have wondered if Chairman Gerald M. Levin will be able to take the kind of high profile successfully maintained by his predecessor, the late Steven J. Ross.

Any doubts that he’s out to do that ought to be erased by Time Warner’s Levin-rich annual report, which may set a new standard for the amount of space devoted to a top official.

The just-released report pictures Levin four times in just the first 11 pages (other pictures show a Daffy Duck watch and the “Batman” logo).

The report also includes 13 pages of commentary from Levin in the form of a standard chairman’s report, a special question-and-answer section and a full-page “values and commitments” report that appears on the back page.

Kiss Up and Tell

A couple of professors at Bryant College in Rhode Island have put to a rigorous academic test something we’ve all known for some time: Brown-nosing pays off.

In the March issue of the academic journal “Group & Organization Management Inc.,” Ronald J. Deluga and J.T. Perry examined “higher quality supervisor-subordinate exchanges.”

Not surprisingly, they found brown-nosers “receive special benefits and opportunities including favorable performance appraisals, promotions, support in career development, as well as satisfying and interesting positions.”

The study defines “ingratiation” as a “set of influence behaviors designed to improve one’s interpersonal attractiveness” that is “used by subordinates to gain the approval of supervisors who distribute desired rewards.”

The study goes on to say that “subordinate ingratiation can be manipulative.”

It also concludes that it “is among the most commonly used influence strategies” in the workplace.

Details at 11

With all of the job shuffling going on in the local television news market--anchor Bree Walker is leaving KCBS and anchor Ann Martin is leaving KABC--a timely course is being offered by The Learning Annex.

The June course is titled “How to Get Your Dream Job in Any Field!” Among the topics to be covered are “How to get to the right people,” “Breaking into the job market when you’re over 40” and “When not to take ‘no’ for an answer.”

The instructor: KNBC anchor Kelly Lange.

Briefly. . .

Whatever that is: The pork industry has released a “Pork Chain Quality Audit,” which it says will be used by a new “Pork Chain Consortium.”

A Boston company is sponsoring a “Hollywood Hucksters” exhibit there this month featuring nostalgic ads that include a Louis Armstrong ad for Polaroid, Howdy Doody selling Rice Krispies and former actor Ronald Reagan plugging Chesterfield cigarettes.

A career publication catalogue seeks to prod people into ordering its books with a free offer of an audio book package titled “Overcoming Procrastination.”