3 ms·
> The fact that lead positions in a software company are being filled by salespeople and PowerPoint/Excel 'wizards' says a lot about the company, doesn't it? T
by NeutronBoy 11y ago
> The fact that lead positions in a software company are being filled by salespeople and PowerPoint/Excel 'wizards' says a lot about the company, doesn't it?
The lead position in a large company (in any industry) generally requires little in-depth knowledge of the product. The lead positions (CEO, CFO) are there to report to boards, shareholders, and regulators. Sure they might know and be interested in the product, but the CFO of MS and Apple generally isn't going to be a software engineer, just as the CFO of Audi or GM isn't going to be a mechanic.
- jedmeyers 11y ago"President of SAP Ariba" is not a CEO/CFO role in this case, it's a lead role in one of the more promising divisions. And I find it funny that you skipped 'CEO of MS' as an example, and started talking about CFOs instead, which are not relevant to this discussion since neither McDermott nor Atzberger are CFOs.
- toyg 11y agoCEO roles might not strictly require a background in the space the business occupies, but sure as hell it helps knowing the difference between a widget and a bulboid, what you can realistically expect widget production to be, what widget consumers expects and so on - in other words, being a "widgeteer". The typical "masters of the universe" view that C-level executives are a separate caste of specialist dung-sellers is what gives modern capitalism a bad name.