Even the best so-called team-building exercises are often nothing but embarrassing wastes of time to be suffered through. I remember in my first job a group of about 20 local reporters were all asked to all name the animal we thought we most closely resembled. I think I copied someone who picked an eagle, latching onto the flight theme -- get me out of here. There it went on the white board: Amey = sea gull.

Not surprisingly, layoffs at that small newspaper ensued soon after all that high-priced consulting talent had left. Or maybe our team leader was really there to identify all the sloths and bears and mules that should be shown the exits? It's hard to tell sometimes what these silly episodes are really all about.

But of the many anecdotes I've heard, nothing matches the humiliations apparently endured by employees of Alarm One. Apparently they had to do things like eat baby food, wear diapers or be hit with a competitor's signage. One smart employee saw fit to quit and sue. She was awarded $1.7 million by a jury.

And if Alarm One wasn't punished enough? The company just made it onto Business 2.0's list for of the dumbest moments in business.

As mama to two unruly and willful little boys and possessor of a fairly good temper, I struggle with the advice from experts re: spanking. "They" say that spanking "slows mental development and hinders achievement." Naturally "they" are not saying such things while faced with a four-year-old who looks you right in the eyes and throws his Percy the tank engine toy at his baby brother's head. Anyway.

The experts are up in arms because of a statistically insignificant survey released claiming that most CEOs were spanked as children. In other news, most CEOs were raised in the 40s, 50s and 60s. File that one away in the "do you understand the relationship between cause and effect?" cabinet.

While I look hard to find the reason USA Today felt it necessary to release this bit of trivia as "news," I'm nonetheless interested in the whole topic. And I'm wondering: should we reinstate spanking for CEOs? No, not as a parenting tactic for future CEOs (my son breathes a sigh of relief), but as a measure to reign in some of the bad behavior of CEOs in the boardroom today.

If they're going to act like children, why not treat them as such? Maybe a good wooden spoon hanging over the conference table at Hewlett-Packard Company (NYSE:HPQ) might have kept Patricia Dunn from listening to that feasibility study on whether planting spies at the Wall Street Journal was a good idea. Or could it have dissuaded Steve Jobs from accepting the plan to back-date stock options at Apple Computer, Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)? Maybe if Sumner Redstone was afraid of a good strapping he'd reduce his salary at Viacom, Inc. (NYSE:VIA) a bit more.

It's at least worth a try!