4 ms·

Can someone give an example of a similar situation where the CEO was male? Ie an outsider brought in to save a big tech company that looked doomed and indeed wa

Can someone give an example of a similar situation where the CEO was male? Ie an outsider brought in to save a big tech company that looked doomed and indeed was. Jack Dorsey is almost that, but he had previous involvement at the top of Twitter so maybe not quite the same thing. The reason I ask is I think Marissa has received an awful lot of particularly aggressive criticism, and it'd be interesting to see if men in her situation receive the same treatment from HN, the tech press, etc. It would be interesting to find a good comparison.

canttestthis 11y ago
No, that comparison would be a farce since you can't account for variables other than gender when comparing CEOs.
- randomsearch 11y ago
  It wouldn't be perfect but that doesn't make it farcical.
  - cloakandswagger 11y ago
    You're curve fitting data to a single, pre-conceived (and over-simplified) notion. This practice of manufacturing discrimination seems to be a popular tool among feminists (see: Hillary Clinton)
moonshinefe 11y ago
Considering most CEOs are male by far, I'm sure there are dozens of cases historically where it's happened. This isn't the first time a company has been failing and they fire the CEO and hire someone else, only to fail in the end anyways.
- randomsearch 11y ago
  Sure. But a specific example from tech in say the last decade?
  - moonshinefe 11y ago
    Well, I didn't down vote you because I didn't think it was a terrible question. I am not well versed in business CEO history though, so I can't point out specific examples. I just was saying that given the thousands and thousands of businesses that have existed in history, this situation isn't unique. I also am not sure how you'd distinguish she was getting criticized due to her gender as opposed to it just being an extremely iconic company from internet history that has steadily gone down the tubes. It's a bad situation and tons of people have lost their jobs, I'm not sure how one could speculate accurately that the criticisms are because she's female vs. the other dozens of issues. cheers
    - randomsearch 11y ago
      I don't disagree. If you could find an example of a guy in a similar situation who has received a similar level of criticism, then I think you could at least conclude that gender wasn't the primary factor in motivating criticism. If you couldn't find an example, then not much could be concluded.
  - meric 11y ago
    Elop, Nokia?
  - ci5er 11y ago
    Last decade? In tech? That's more of a head scratcher... Scully and then Amelio @ Apple? Fiorina @ HP, certainly after Eckhard Pfeiffer screwed the pooch at Compaq. C. Edward Acker after Sewell screwed up at Pan Am. Kay Whitmore at Kodak. Edison was a horrible CEO; but of the many companies he founded, the only one that survives is the one that fired him early on. No one every hired him to be a turn-around person. Turn arounds are hard. The company falters. New person brought in. That person fumbles. Yet another new person. Company recovers. If the company doesn't recover - you probably haven't heard of them.
iaml 11y ago
Stephen Elop
drauh 11y ago
https://www.propublica.org/article/bank-got-bailout-ceo-got-golden-parachute-1119 https://www.propublica.org/article/bank-got-bailout-ceo-got-... http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/cifamerica/2009/aug/17/goldman-sachs-us-economy-tarp http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/cifamerica/2009/aug... http://theadvocate.com/news/education/15631957-123/university-presidents-ensured-high-paid-jobs-for-life-under-golden-parachute-clauses-in-contracts http://theadvocate.com/news/education/15631957-123/universit... You get the picture. There's a reason "golden parachute" is a well-known term.

canttestthis 11y ago

No, that comparison would be a farce since you can't account for variables other than gender when comparing CEOs.

randomsearch 11y ago
It wouldn't be perfect but that doesn't make it farcical.
- cloakandswagger 11y ago
  You're curve fitting data to a single, pre-conceived (and over-simplified) notion. This practice of manufacturing discrimination seems to be a popular tool among feminists (see: Hillary Clinton)

moonshinefe 11y ago

Considering most CEOs are male by far, I'm sure there are dozens of cases historically where it's happened. This isn't the first time a company has been failing and they fire the CEO and hire someone else, only to fail in the end anyways.

randomsearch 11y ago
Sure. But a specific example from tech in say the last decade?
- moonshinefe 11y ago
  Well, I didn't down vote you because I didn't think it was a terrible question. I am not well versed in business CEO history though, so I can't point out specific examples. I just was saying that given the thousands and thousands of businesses that have existed in history, this situation isn't unique. I also am not sure how you'd distinguish she was getting criticized due to her gender as opposed to it just being an extremely iconic company from internet history that has steadily gone down the tubes. It's a bad situation and tons of people have lost their jobs, I'm not sure how one could speculate accurately that the criticisms are because she's female vs. the other dozens of issues. cheers
  - randomsearch 11y ago
    I don't disagree. If you could find an example of a guy in a similar situation who has received a similar level of criticism, then I think you could at least conclude that gender wasn't the primary factor in motivating criticism. If you couldn't find an example, then not much could be concluded.
- meric 11y ago
  Elop, Nokia?
- ci5er 11y ago
  Last decade? In tech? That's more of a head scratcher... Scully and then Amelio @ Apple? Fiorina @ HP, certainly after Eckhard Pfeiffer screwed the pooch at Compaq. C. Edward Acker after Sewell screwed up at Pan Am. Kay Whitmore at Kodak. Edison was a horrible CEO; but of the many companies he founded, the only one that survives is the one that fired him early on. No one every hired him to be a turn-around person. Turn arounds are hard. The company falters. New person brought in. That person fumbles. Yet another new person. Company recovers. If the company doesn't recover - you probably haven't heard of them.

iaml 11y ago

Stephen Elop

drauh 11y ago

https://www.propublica.org/article/bank-got-bailout-ceo-got-golden-parachute-1119 https://www.propublica.org/article/bank-got-bailout-ceo-got-... http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/cifamerica/2009/aug/17/goldman-sachs-us-economy-tarp http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/cifamerica/2009/aug... http://theadvocate.com/news/education/15631957-123/university-presidents-ensured-high-paid-jobs-for-life-under-golden-parachute-clauses-in-contracts http://theadvocate.com/news/education/15631957-123/universit... You get the picture. There's a reason "golden parachute" is a well-known term.