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I'm a consultant, and recently terminated my services for an inventor-type. Already has made his money.. he's spinning up various new endeavors and trying to hi

I'm a consultant, and recently terminated my services for an inventor-type. Already has made his money.. he's spinning up various new endeavors and trying to hit the brass bell again. While working on company #1, he wanted to bring me in on company #2. He told me the idea, which didn't interest me a whole lot, but there was a key issue with it, culturally speaking. I told him I wasn't sure how he would be able to scale up staff given that people may not want to spend their 40-45 hours/week working on "X". (I"m being purposefully ambiguous...) His response? "For a paycheck, they will..." Anyway, that defined his general management philosophy. It's pretty prevalent out there. This is a guy who can't keep talent for more than a few months at a time... hasn't slowed him down. I think that's what has impressed me most recently, in my consulting endeavors. The number of moneyed company owners who persist on a destructive chain of behavior in spite of how it hurts their own ambitions. And yet, in cases like this, if you can succeed just enough, there's nothing stopping you from clamping down because you want to.

true_religion 8y ago
I am not seeing the problem with his philosphy. We go to work for money, not because we are in love with the companies goals. That sort of thing can come afterwards, but loyalty has to be earned.
- jvagner 8y ago
  i've worked for a lot of different kinds of bosses/owners, and the "check-writer" philosophy, stated so unapologetically, has often been most closely aligned with the worst bosses, with the unhappiest employees. so yes, he can, and no, it's not, IMO, on the more effective end of the scale. saying that, in and of itself, is often a barometer of a shitty boss. the good bosses might have a bit of that in them, but they have other values ahead of that statement that lead them to be better bosses, and IME, more successful in their given organizations.
jackhack 8y ago
that's the attitude of the videogame industry. "there's a long line of suckers on the sidewalk just waiting for you to burn out and quit..." I've heard the same thing in construction jobs, and retail, too. It's everywhere.

true_religion 8y ago

I am not seeing the problem with his philosphy. We go to work for money, not because we are in love with the companies goals. That sort of thing can come afterwards, but loyalty has to be earned.

jvagner 8y ago
i've worked for a lot of different kinds of bosses/owners, and the "check-writer" philosophy, stated so unapologetically, has often been most closely aligned with the worst bosses, with the unhappiest employees. so yes, he can, and no, it's not, IMO, on the more effective end of the scale. saying that, in and of itself, is often a barometer of a shitty boss. the good bosses might have a bit of that in them, but they have other values ahead of that statement that lead them to be better bosses, and IME, more successful in their given organizations.

jackhack 8y ago

that's the attitude of the videogame industry. "there's a long line of suckers on the sidewalk just waiting for you to burn out and quit..." I've heard the same thing in construction jobs, and retail, too. It's everywhere.