Topping the list of highest paid CEOs is 43-year-old Nabeel Gareeb of Pakistani origin, CEO of chipmaker MEMC Electronic Materials since April 2002 with a total compensation package of $79.6 million.

Gareeb joined MEMC as CEO in April 2002. Gareeb's appointment came after Texas Pacific Group purchased the company from its German owners in 2001 and recapitalised the business.

Prior to joining MEMC, Gareeb was the Chief Operating Officer of International Rectifier Corporation, a leading supplier of power semiconductors, where he was responsible for worldwide operations, research and development and marketing.

He joined International Rectifier in 1992 as Vice President of Manufacturing and subsequently held other senior management positions. Gareeb immigrated to US from Pakistan more than 25 years ago. He holds an MSc in engineering management, and a Bachelors in electrical and electronic engineering.

Jen-Hsun Huang, Nvidia

Second on the list is Nvidia Corporation co founder Jen-Hsun Huang. Huang founded graphic chip maker in April 1993 today commands a pay packet of $45.9 million. He has being President, Chief Executive Officer, and a member on Nvidia's Board since its inception.

Under his leadership, Nvidia emerged as a leading name in programmable graphics processing technologies and one of the semiconductor industry's largest fabless companies.

Huang also serves on the Rand Corporation's Board of Trustees and is a member of the Committee of 100, an organisation that addresses issues concerning the Chinese-American community and US-China relations.

Prior to founding Nvidia, Huang held engineering, marketing and general management positions at LSI Logic, and was a microprocessor designer at Advanced Micro Devices.

Huang holds a BSEE degree from Oregon State University and an MSEE degree from Stanford University.

Jonathan Schwartz, Sun Microsystems

Jonathan Schwartz, chief executive officer and president of Sun Microsystems is the third highest-paid young tech CEO with an annual package of $13.5 million. A member of Sun's board of directors, Schwartz became company's CEO in 2006, succeeding the Sun's co-founder and current chairman of the board, Scott McNealy. 

Schwartz was promoted to president and chief operating officer in 2004, and managed all operational functions at Sun -- from product development and marketing, to global sales and service.

A leader behind many of Sun's open source and standard setting initiatives, Jonathan's been an outspoken advocate for the network as a utility with more than just value for the computing industry -- but as a tool for driving economic, social and political progress.

Prior to his position as COO, Schwartz served as Sun's executive vice president for software, its Chief Strategy Officer, and held a variety of leadership positions across product and corporate development.

He joined Sun in 1996 after the company acquired Lighthouse Design, where he was CEO and co-founder. Prior to that, Schwartz was with McKinsey & Co. Schwartz received degrees in economics and mathematics from Wesleyan University.

Shantanu Narayen, Adobe Systems

Forty-four-year old electronics engineer from Hyderabad, Shantanu Narayen, became Adobe's CEO last year. His annual compensation is at $12 million.

Narayen joined Adobe in January 1998 as Vice President and General Manager of Adobe's engineering technology group. In January 1999, he was promoted to Senior Vice President, Worldwide Products and in March 2001 he was promoted to Executive Vice President, Worldwide Product Marketing and Development. 

In January 2005, Narayen was promoted to President and Chief Operating Officer of Adobe. Prior to joining Adobe, Narayen co-founded Pictra Inc in 1996.

Together with the ex-CEO Bruce Chizen, Narayen spearheaded the $3.4 billion acquisition of Macromedia Inc in 2005, expanding Adobe's software platform and solutions and strengthening the company's presence in key markets ranging from enterprise and vertical industries to mobile devices and multimedia publishing.

Narayen is a frequent speaker at industry and academic events. He serves on the Advisory Board of the Haas School of Business, University of California at Berkeley.

Narayen holds a bachelor's degree in electronics engineering from Osmania University in India, a master's degree in computer science from Bowling Green State University, and a master's degree in business administration from the Haas School of Business.

Dara Khosrowshahi, Expedia

At no. five is CEO of Expedia Dara Khosrowshahi with a total compensation package of is $4.9 million.

Founded as a division of Microsoft in October 1996, Expedia was spun off in 1999. The company was later purchased by USA Networks in 2001.

The 39-year-old Khosrowshahi became CEO of Expedia when it spun off from IAC/InterActiveCorp (IAC) in August 2005. He joined IAC in 1998 as vice president of strategic planning. Prior to this he worked at Allen & Company LLC from 1991 to 1998, where he served as vice president from 1995 to 1998. 

Khosrowshahi received a BA in engineering from Brown University in 1991

Francisco D'Souza, Cognizant

At no. six is thiry-nine-year old Francisco D'Souza, president and chief executive officer of Cognizant. D'Souza who has been the company's President and CEO since January 2007 has an annual compensation package of $3.7 million.

Prior to this he was the Chief Operating Officer for Cognizant's global delivery, marketing and sales, business development and client services operations. He has also led the company's North American and European operations.

Earlier, Francisco held key positions at The Dun & Bradstreet Corporation in marketing, strategic planning and new business development in Germany, US and India.

Born in Kenya, he has Bachelors degree from the University of East Asia. He has also done MBA from Carnegie-Mellon University.

Applying and resigning in two jobs during a three-month period may be viewed by everyone as delinquent, and I admit that it has little suggestions of rebelliousness in it. I hunt for an occupation after bidding goodbye to volunteer work from SIKAP for two years. After being accepted in two jobs, I resign because of ideological reasons, as one may call it. I experience four months of searching and three months of working. It is also the time of my first plane ride to disenfranchised communities. This is a dream that I have always yearned for and, as God would have it, my flight's schedule is a day after my birthday. I also have chances of working in writing projects which improve my grasp of words and semiology.

Throughout my year, I am exposed to older bosses that I humbly obey in the beginning, but whom I end up contravening after three months. This is not to deliberately insult them but my irritation and somber grow during these times. Most of the time, I do not agree with what they expect me to accomplish. I observe that they are output-oriented rather than empowering to people. It makes me reflect about the leadership styles of both our generations. Eddie Gibbs, an American professor of theology, affirms that past generations' headship is controlling while my era's leadership is reflexive. This doesn't, however, rank which approach is better. In fact, he mentions that today's young people have baggages because of their culture. They are reluctant to take initiative and responsibility; appear to casual and aimless; have anger or detachment towards institutions; and naively idealistic. I deem that this is not only because of our leadership methods but also caused by tensions produced by rapidly evolving societies. Our times shove us to experience conflict between the Universal and the Individual. Do we choose modernity or tradition? Short-term or long-term concerns? Assimilation or expansion of knowledge? In a nutshell, we are being pushed into confusion or into post-traumatic stress disorder.

I realize that I lack courage and initiative when I ask my boss' consent to resign. I enter her small private office decorated with ornaments from around the globe. In the middle of the room lies her big desk full of documents, pens, and odd paper weights. At the right are tons of books and at the left are dusty paintings. Behind the table is an intimidating black executive chair where she sits. I hand her my resignation letter and park myself in front of the counter. She silently reads the note while my heart races and pounds. She looks at me with benevolent eyes. Suddenly, she says no. I give a half smile of reluctance. It ends with her sending me back outside. I ask myself what I should have done differently. How do I assert myself? It takes me a week before I say again that I really need to leave. I can't cite convincing reasons of my resignation. I have accepted the fact that I'm confused. I too am not clear but my intuition tells me to set out. And maybe, that's how it is supposed to be. Glendenning, a well-known psychologist, claims that our generation is experiencing post-traumatic stress disorder. We show symptoms like unfitting gushes of anger, mental numbing, curbing of emotions, and lack of a sense of future. But psychologists also advocate changing our notions of health and normal functioning. Maybe post-traumatic stress disorder is healthier that being paranoid and controlling. They urge us to accept multiple identities. How do we take temperaments equally from both stability and disarray? How do we balance a little order within an enormous chaos? They termed this synergy: a juxtaposing of socio-cultural establishments and our individual makeup. This is because we do not change the individual to cope with the environment, or vice versa, but both. How do we, as humans, exceed animal species? How do we become transformative agents with unparalleled creativity and capable of giving meaning to the planet? How do we balance the healing of our individual selves and of the collective welfare? In his book, The Road Less Traveled, M. Scott Peck summarizes this point by saying, “Life is difficult. This is a great truth, one of the greatest truths. It is a great truth because once we truly see this truth, we transcend it. Once we truly know that life is difficult - once we truly understand and accept it - then life is no longer difficult. Because once it is accepted, the fact that life is difficult no longer matters.”

I rest after my resignation. I pick the color orange for my room. The bed lays relatively neat at the end of the space. At its right is the study table and at the left is a desktop computer. Directly in front is an old TV with loose cable connection. I stay in this room most of the time. I only go out of the house, at most, twice a week. I choose not to read any books for three months and merely watch children's cartoon. One would often find me scribbling. I'm always immersed in deep thoughts. I write three poems, two essays, and even two songs. But somehow, my employment experiences are still at the back of my mind. Eddie Gibbs continues that today's generation is more equipped than the past. We live in the information age and it is the only context we have ever known. We have been exposed to most facts every human has encountered. However, what we lack is what he calls a “critic from within”. Because we are short in experience, we may be intensely immersed in our selfish context. We forget that every culture has its upright, neutral, and destructive elements. Thus, we also forget to criticize ourselves. He concludes that modern and post-modern age brackets should be in a constant dialogue with each other. We must discern from both wisdoms. I learn that this implores constantly changing my frames of mind. What I reckon true before might be destructive in today's context. Although painful, I must omit it and permit a rebirth of mind maps. It also requires genuinely engaging with other people, even persons that might be opposite my nature. How do we collaborate to achieve goals we never dreamed? How do we spot various people's capacities that might aid in our missions? Finally, it brings me back to values of humility and of openness to learn from others.

After deep reflection and frequent solitude, I return to SIKAP as a full-time volunteer. With the aftertaste of working from other NGO's, I am silent and slowly sensing my way in. I often talk about my past work with passion and sometimes displeasure. I engage in workshops and trainings as a documenter. In one of our group mentoring sessions, it is my turn to share opinions. I throw a quick glance to everyone. I am one of the eldest in the group. The eyes of the younger participants gaze at me with gleaming eagerness to learn. Perhaps, they could sense how I outline the thoughts in my head. I promptly blurt out the concepts I long to communicate. Unexpectedly, the facilitator stops me and says that I might be articulating excessively. I realize that I do these because I'm trying to find activities that give me joy. Those that are meaningful to me. How fortunate that SIKAP is accepting of changes. Last year, although only two staff gave their full-time commitment, our team chooses to persevere. We treat those who are making money and working outside as productive work, while those care taking our group are doing reproductive work. This is inspired by gender theories but applied in an organizational setting. In order to strengthen the team we have developed, we fashion learning communities where we meet regularly. We share our learnings and even just converse about the things we value. This springs from our deep passion and profound search for meaning. Finally, we find spaces to address our personal clamors and our organizational processes. We try to integrate our individual struggles, no matter how small, to our group's pursuit.

SIKAP shows me that I'm undergoing a U-Process. It is necessary for me to experience a low point before I turn into a stronger being. From my past work, I am able to perceive an opportunity where I could engage. It is where I could leave my contribution. I am able to find my inner source of happiness where I give professional assistance and yet find deep joy. Thus, I plan to study MA Applied Social Psychology with thesis in Children and Youth and Learning and Knowledge Management or Organizational Development. But before this, I aim to develop a critic from within. I wish to genuinely engage in more dynamic organizations. I long to attend trainings, seminars, and other learning activities. Finally, I plan to continue writing documentations, evaluations, and researches. My writing shall give emphasis on both personal clamor and organizational processes. ***

If you invest $3000 in the stock market today and your money returned roughly 11% a year (S&P average), that $3000 will be worth $68,676.89 in just thirty years. That seems to be a lot of money coming only from $3000 and the truth it is but you could even get more. The S&P is a fairly safe index and the returns are nothing special. It proves to have an upward trend in the long run but there are many more funds out there that could bring you in a greater average yearly return than the S&P.

You may be saying, “Well what if I don't have that kind of money right now?” There is a clear answer to this. Most people that start off young aren't capable of stashing away three grand this early in his/her life but there are always ways to save money. Think about things you do during the day that you could stop doing and save a few dollars here and there. Do you go out to eat multiple times throughout the week? To you buy snacks from the snack machine at a certain time of the day? Do you buy the name brand products when off brands are just as effective? If you could change one habit in your life that would save you $3 a day and you save that $3 for 365 days that would equal to $1095, which is no small penny.

If you thought you couldn't find money to invest in the stock market think again. I just revealed to you an easy way to save money and if you stay with it you could save over $1000 in a year. If you were to invest $1000 a year for 20 years in a conservative S&P Index fund by the end of the 20 years you would have accumulated $199,020.88. See what a bit of saving combined with investing can do?

The earlier you start saving and the earlier you start investing the better outcome you will see. It is all about time and compounding interest. Stay informed with my next articles about the value of time valued money and compounding interest. They will sure to come soon.

Save now. Invest now. Be fruitful later.

Having worked in residential child care from the late 1980's until 2006 I have noticed several indicators to predict which new staff members may survive the long and poorly paid hours.

What was uncovered was that a care worker needs an extremely thick and durable skin with the camouflage abilities of a chameleon. A heart constructed of diamond, the verbal skills of a hostage negotiator, all the tacked and awareness of a cardiovascular specialist, the stealth of a ninja and the physical stamina and combat experience of a SAS solider.

The most important quality though would be a slightly warped and very un-P.C. sense of humour.

A typical shift began at 6:30 am with some of the staff showering followed by the checking and packing all the safety equipment, the food supplies and vehicle. The young people and the remaining few staff who found mornings a particular challenge, were awoke at 8 am for breakfast. By 9 am the kitchen was cleaned and closed and by 9:30 am all were loaded into a large twin axle mini bus.

The day was taken up driving the 150 miles through the winter blizzards and snow drifts coving the roads to the foot of a very large, dark mountain. The journey then continued up a rather steep, twisting and dilapidated mountain track, with a shear drop to the valley floor on one side and a crumbling mountainside on the other.

Accompanying the sound of the over-revving engine, was the rather tuneless screams of "we are going to die" only ceasing once the vehicle had mounted the top of the ridge and had parked amongst some old mine workings deep in the mountains of Wales.

In this environment, these skills and abilities can be demonstrated by the care worker finding novel ways to encourage groups of inner-city teenagers to willingly and enthusiastically disembark from a nice warm bus into the pitch black and freezing atmosphere of the Welsh mountains.

Another demonstration is the ability to encourage a sense of wonder in the minds of these young people in regarding the surrounding moss-encrusted ruins of the abandoned slate mine buildings, which give only the barest indication that human civilisation ever existed.

The ideal care worker also needs abundant personality, charm and wit to persuade these reluctant teenagers, to change out of their designer clothing, and dress in grubby caving suits, rubber boots, helmets and head torches, and squeeze their "Super-size-me-Ronald MacDonald" bodies through the tiny mine-entrance hole to a narrow, damp and lightless passage, deep into the mountain.

Unfortunately these talented staff are rare and they tend to be overlooked and under-valued. They are hardly recognised or honoured by employers and it is seldom explained fully, to the applicants at the interview stage, that these traits are skill requirements for the job.

Fortunately social workers, inspectors, and the boss, have a tendency to work during the day when they are safe from the children. These professionals generally do not understand or particularly appreciate the forms of stress relief that care workers require.

The boss, especially when he is showing around venture capitalists who are destined to become your new boss, may not be supportive of any stress management techniques which fall outside of the typical focus group.

Over a 72 hour shift, some relaxation time for staff away from responsibility is important, and midnight would be regarded as a fairly safe time to be carried, squawking like a parrot, on the shoulders of a colleague to the amusement of other wild and crazy looking staff members, and is unlikely cause alarm to anyone of a sensitive nature.

All of these antics were followed by "individual client report writing" and the accounting for the day's expenditure.

Naturally the day ended with the full body length bubble wrap squashing final.

Employees who lack these qualities are generally socially responsible individuals, that tend to be good natured and kind. Have a good, moral sense of personal and social duty towards their fellow man. They may follow religious edicts which have a requirement to giving back something to the world, or working off bad karma. There are even the, "I really love kids and would really want to help them" personality types; they all have something in common: they have all been known to leave in tears after a few short hours.

'Why don't they like me; why are they so horrible to me?' They cry, the answer, "Because they can".

Any new staff member embarking on this voyage of the "Good Ship Childcare" should be aware of were all the exit signs are, the location of your flotation device and have a working knowledge on how the life boat works.

These young people, who have been often neglected, have been the victims and the perpetrators of violence, sexual abuse and criminality. They have experienced very little true friendship and have little trust in adults, particularly when those adults may represent authority.

Young people can be cruel and capricious, manipulative and devious and some adults cannot deal with this side of young peoples' behaviour and find the experience too upsetting.

So fellow shipmates, if you are unable to make these young mutineers walk the metaphorical gang plank, you generally end up walking it yourself.