Christopher Anvil's "Top Rung" (short story, leadership, free): Even the man at the top needs something to look UP to

James L Kevv, newly appointed terran ambassador to the country called Gurt on a world called Knackruth, has a tough job ahead: put up with its impossible to get along with dictator, & ensure earth keeps getting supplies of "quadrite" - a material needed for space drives that's rare on earth & abundant on Gurt.

In the process, Kevv will learn something that ails some men at the top & what the fix is.

Fact sheet.

First published: Astounding, July 1958.
Download full text from Webscription, or as part of the scans of Astounding issue where it originally appeared.
Rating: B.
Among the stories from Astounding/Analog issues edited by John Campbell.
Related: Stories of Christopher Anvil; fiction from 1950s.