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There's a book I remember reading - I can't remember, but it may have been The Dictator's Handbook - which talked about how this is a common management pattern
by blackbagboys 8y ago
There's a book I remember reading - I can't remember, but it may have been The Dictator's Handbook - which talked about how this is a common management pattern in authoritarian dictatorships (although typically somewhat more extreme in its implementation). The dictator ends up weeding out most people of exceptional talent and competence, but it consolidates his personal power. Bad for the state when it faces a crisis, but good for him personally. Easy to see how this applies to senior management at a public company.
- seanp2k2 8y agoRelated: The classic: https://www.cia.gov/news-information/featured-story-archive/2012-featured-story-archive/CleanedUOSSSimpleSabotage_sm.pdf https://www.cia.gov/news-information/featured-story-archive/...
- geden 8y ago(See current US goverment for a worked example)
- anonymfus 8y ago(For the convenience of people reading this thread decades later: geden was talking about Donald Trump and his government)
- gowld 8y agoSo why did it work so well for Jobs? Perhaps because in the tech industry, you have a high frequency of the rare combination of incredible talent in a profitable industry combined with social/political non-talent, so people feel stuck where they are, or love their work so much they don't care if they are unfairly treated? Look at open-source, for example. People with little money, often in poor countries, giving away software that generate $billions in profits for already wealthy people.
- rahoulb 8y agoJobs said that what he learnt at Pixar was to hire and trust great people. I think there is a big difference between people who try to act like Jobs and Jobs himself.
- pcwalton 8y ago> Jobs said that what he learnt at Pixar was to hire and trust great people. Given what we now know about John Lasseter, Jobs' record on implementing this advice was decidedly mixed.
- scarface74 8y agoMost of the largest open source projects' contributors work for tech companies and are sponsored by the companies.
- jrochkind1 8y ago> Easy to see how this applies to senior management at a public company. Or any organization I've been in, some non-profit some for-profit, none of them public.
- blackbagboys 8y agoTrue. Any organization in which the incentives for an executive to increase or maintain their own power within the organization trumps the incentives for them to work for the benefit of the organization as a whole.