Executive Time, the theory goes, is too valuable to be spent sharpening pencils. placing phone calls or whatever. As Webster's New International Dictionary makes clear, an executive is charged, above all else, with the conduct of affairs. It makes sense, therefore, that he be able to dispose of the more mundane aspects of his job as quickly and as easily as possible--the better to deal with all those important affairs. It was to that end. obviously, that secretaries were invented. Not to mention the two marvelous desks shown here--the desk being one of civilization's key elements, ranking just below the bed, which it's been known to stand in for, and the wheel, which is what you have to be to work at one of these. (It's especially fun when you can clutter up the surface with some of the fine goodies pictured below.) Of course, it doesn't matter what sex you are: in fact, the changes in our society have created a number of office situations in which females are on top. Case in point is the picture above: This man Friday has the boss's routine down pat (and you'd better believe he knows what all those nifty little buttons atop her desk are for). It's not a bad job--once he accepts the idea that there'll be a little hanky-panky now and then. But what the hell, it goes with the territory. And as for the young lady, well, she could make more money elsewhere--but say goodbye to that marvelous burled-elm footrest? Never. Like Sewell Avery, they'd have to carry her bodily away.