15 ms·

Frito Lay was a great place to work at because they did promote up, and they also hired the best. I would often be in meetings where one logistics manager went

Frito Lay was a great place to work at because they did promote up, and they also hired the best. I would often be in meetings where one logistics manager went to MIT and the other logistics manager would be someone who started at a plant boxing chips.

hanniabu 7y ago
That's the way to work in my opinion. I worked at a place where just because I had an engineering degree I was around 25 years old managing a manufacturing plant full of 40+ year olds that have been working the lines since they graduated high school. It makes absolutely no sense. The best I could do was just make sure they had all the supplies and everything they needed because they knew every machines and issue inside and out and there was absolutely nothing I could help them with in that regard. Would have made 100x more sense having one of our maintenance guys or line workers promoted into a managerial position.
- codesushi42 7y ago
  Thank you for being humble. Experience is worth a lot more than credentials on paper. This is a truth that SV turns a blind eye to.
  - bnjms 7y ago
    This is the thing that encourages so much adolescent angst. They've a sense that they know as much as most of the adults they interact with. And a realization everyone just makes it up as they go. And somehow we don't share with each other the value of experience and no one shares failure is the currency of experience and young people should be almost failing a lot.
- mrmonkeyman 7y ago
  Manager != production drone. You don't need production expertise to be an excellent manager. You said it right, just make sure the guys have everything they need and get out of their way. That is the manager's job. Promoting these guys will backfire.
- pkaye 7y ago
  My first job out of college was as a mechanical engineer. I joined a big company and later found out is was just as a lone engineer in the technician team. I felt a little left out from the R&D action. But it turned out to be the best thing for me. The techs were thrilled to have an engineer to design around issues pestering them for ages. I in turn got lots of hands on experience working in the factory and labs and realizing what makes a good design. I really learned the ins and outs of what we were building. A few years later the company reorganized and I was pulled into the core R&D team but I was better prepared for it.
polartx 7y ago
My dad literally went from putting the chips in the boxes when he was 23 years old, to overseeing the construction of a brand new manufacturing plant (and running it), to managing scores of plants at HQ in his 40's. Frito-Lay however, is not immune from boneheaded decisions. After 20someodd years of employment, and a trophy case full of awards, he and some of his [white male] colleagues were laid off in favor of creating a more 'diverse' management roster. Lacking the experience of those whose positions they took, performance tanked with the new management team, and the person who set it all in motion was fired. At the end of the day, revenue-per-share is pretty indifferent to age, race, or gender.
- tylerhou 7y ago
  > At the end of the day, revenue-per-share is pretty indifferent to age, race, or gender. Except, as the article shows, diversity often does increase revenue share. Flamin' hot cheetos were invented by a Mexican immigrant who realized that Frito-Lay didn't have any products which appealed to Latino people. EDIT: Changed Latinx to Latino.
  - throwawaycanuck 7y ago
    >Latinx There is no faster way to discredit your argument than using absurd language like latinx. I've yet to meet a latino person who referred to themselves as anything else.
    - wutbrodo 7y ago
      I find the obsession with nitpicking language on part of the ideological spectrum to be a little absurd too, but FWIW I've met quite a few latino/latinx people who identify as Latinx. Though that probably has to do with the extent that I've been steeped in a pretty intense ideological bubble for a very long time at this point (I moved to the Bay in college, before these kind of Bay Area norms around language started to spread so widely)
    - uponcoffee 7y ago
      You seem to be the one that is out of touch: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latinx https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latinx
chaosbutters314 7y ago
Not anymore... :(
legitster 7y ago
I worked for Frito Lay in college as a detailer. To this day I told people it was the best job I ever had. Just so chill. They trusted you and paid you.
Theodores 7y ago
His wife was playing the role of co-founder. She believed in him and helped him make the MVP. Kudos to the guy for the initiative, but we are wrong to assume the janitor is in a weak and powerless position. You can work in a factory where you don't see any of the building apart from the walk to your station and the walk to the tea room. You just do your shift operating a machine. The janitor isn't so intensively over-worked, not physically tied to a machine on a production line. There is scope to travel about the facility and time to observe. There is also scope to be on first name terms with everyone. But most managers would never hire anyone with an entrepreneurial brain into such a role. Also by being outside any power structure the janitor has nothing to lose and everything to gain. This story is also telling because of how people in America find it so inspirational. They are chips, a popular junk food item made of corn!!! Some perspective is needed on that. No atoms were split. If you had two kids, one grew up to be the inventor of a new chips flavour, the other to be a foreign language teacher, which one would you feel best pleased with? Being happy and down to earth isn't good enough though, in America there has to be a rags to riches story for one to be deemed successful.
- creddit 7y ago
  It doesn’t seem you read the full story. For one thing, it wasn’t just that he invented the new Cheeto. He also became an executive in the same large, successful org. Secondly, why does it matter that what he made was a popular junk food made of corn? If he was a chef that made a popular meal made of locally sourced ingredients, would you find that more impressive? If he were an artist and he splattered paint onto canvas made of cotton? I’d be careful to not trivialize what it means to make something beloved by millions just because you ascribe negative value to junk food and corn.
  - Theodores 7y ago
    > He also became an executive in the same large, successful org. This is the bit that some people would be underwhelmed by. Without the janitor story he is just a corporate executive, 'a suit'. And yes I did read the story, 1 + 1/2 times... The junk food industry is not where the creativity is at. That is not a put down, it is a statement of fact. Most junk food products have not changed in decades. A century ago the brands were the same. I am sure that there are plenty of fascinating aspects to the business, you could get into vending machines or industrial processes to find a load of intellectually stimulating stuff going on. But look at it this way: If you were having to do speed dating and you were an executive for a junk food company, how would you rate your chances? Even if you had inspired a new flavour of corn chip then you are not going to have the most captivating of chat when the topic inevitably moves on to what you do for a living. If this was me and the guy at the next table was nurse in the emergency ward, a teacher or even an artist then I would be concerned about my chances. The fast paced world of junk food sales just has the word 'dull' run before it. As for corn, there is something you hit upon in your comment. Most things in America are made of corn. It is in everything. Beverages have the corn syrup. The meat is made from corn fed animals. Even the chips that should be 'potato crisps' are made of corn. It is this industrial feedstock variety of corn that goes into these things, not a product that can be eaten corn on the cob style as a seasonal treat. In the rest of the world people eat less corn. I very much doubt that in France there are people having fake flavoured corn products several times a day. Various native American tribes were corn fed. They did all the original genetic modification for corn. You have to wonder how much modern America really has moved on since everyone is still corn fed there. Many millions of Americans like cocaine, crack, crystal meth and heroin. Nothing makes them happier. A little bit of their brain lights up when they score. These more powerful substances have hijacked the same pleasure circuits used for the reward system. The junk food industry has the same gig going on, to all intents and purposes the customers are every bit as addicted as the crack head is. And you just have to look at the waist line of modern day, corn fed America. It isn't healthy. We hear about food deserts in America. These same food deserts are the places you will find the most outlets for junk food. It is like an invasive species. The humble potato or the carrot does not have marketing executives trying to get the vegetable into everyone's home. The junk food industry does. Every school has cooks trying their hardest to make nutritional meals for kids. The junk food industry is the enemy. If I was an executive, a suit, in the junk food industry then I don't imagine that I would be getting a lot of respect from the school chef. So, no, I am not putting this guy on a pedestal (or wanting to begrudge him) just because he has made it to the top of corporate America.

hanniabu 7y ago

That's the way to work in my opinion. I worked at a place where just because I had an engineering degree I was around 25 years old managing a manufacturing plant full of 40+ year olds that have been working the lines since they graduated high school. It makes absolutely no sense. The best I could do was just make sure they had all the supplies and everything they needed because they knew every machines and issue inside and out and there was absolutely nothing I could help them with in that regard. Would have made 100x more sense having one of our maintenance guys or line workers promoted into a managerial position.

codesushi42 7y ago
Thank you for being humble. Experience is worth a lot more than credentials on paper. This is a truth that SV turns a blind eye to.
- bnjms 7y ago
  This is the thing that encourages so much adolescent angst. They've a sense that they know as much as most of the adults they interact with. And a realization everyone just makes it up as they go. And somehow we don't share with each other the value of experience and no one shares failure is the currency of experience and young people should be almost failing a lot.
mrmonkeyman 7y ago
Manager != production drone. You don't need production expertise to be an excellent manager. You said it right, just make sure the guys have everything they need and get out of their way. That is the manager's job. Promoting these guys will backfire.
pkaye 7y ago
My first job out of college was as a mechanical engineer. I joined a big company and later found out is was just as a lone engineer in the technician team. I felt a little left out from the R&D action. But it turned out to be the best thing for me. The techs were thrilled to have an engineer to design around issues pestering them for ages. I in turn got lots of hands on experience working in the factory and labs and realizing what makes a good design. I really learned the ins and outs of what we were building. A few years later the company reorganized and I was pulled into the core R&D team but I was better prepared for it.

polartx 7y ago

My dad literally went from putting the chips in the boxes when he was 23 years old, to overseeing the construction of a brand new manufacturing plant (and running it), to managing scores of plants at HQ in his 40's. Frito-Lay however, is not immune from boneheaded decisions. After 20someodd years of employment, and a trophy case full of awards, he and some of his [white male] colleagues were laid off in favor of creating a more 'diverse' management roster. Lacking the experience of those whose positions they took, performance tanked with the new management team, and the person who set it all in motion was fired. At the end of the day, revenue-per-share is pretty indifferent to age, race, or gender.

tylerhou 7y ago
> At the end of the day, revenue-per-share is pretty indifferent to age, race, or gender. Except, as the article shows, diversity often does increase revenue share. Flamin' hot cheetos were invented by a Mexican immigrant who realized that Frito-Lay didn't have any products which appealed to Latino people. EDIT: Changed Latinx to Latino.
- throwawaycanuck 7y ago
  >Latinx There is no faster way to discredit your argument than using absurd language like latinx. I've yet to meet a latino person who referred to themselves as anything else.
  - wutbrodo 7y ago
    I find the obsession with nitpicking language on part of the ideological spectrum to be a little absurd too, but FWIW I've met quite a few latino/latinx people who identify as Latinx. Though that probably has to do with the extent that I've been steeped in a pretty intense ideological bubble for a very long time at this point (I moved to the Bay in college, before these kind of Bay Area norms around language started to spread so widely)
  - uponcoffee 7y ago
    You seem to be the one that is out of touch: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latinx https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latinx

chaosbutters314 7y ago

Not anymore... :(

legitster 7y ago

I worked for Frito Lay in college as a detailer. To this day I told people it was the best job I ever had. Just so chill. They trusted you and paid you.

Theodores 7y ago

His wife was playing the role of co-founder. She believed in him and helped him make the MVP. Kudos to the guy for the initiative, but we are wrong to assume the janitor is in a weak and powerless position. You can work in a factory where you don't see any of the building apart from the walk to your station and the walk to the tea room. You just do your shift operating a machine. The janitor isn't so intensively over-worked, not physically tied to a machine on a production line. There is scope to travel about the facility and time to observe. There is also scope to be on first name terms with everyone. But most managers would never hire anyone with an entrepreneurial brain into such a role. Also by being outside any power structure the janitor has nothing to lose and everything to gain. This story is also telling because of how people in America find it so inspirational. They are chips, a popular junk food item made of corn!!! Some perspective is needed on that. No atoms were split. If you had two kids, one grew up to be the inventor of a new chips flavour, the other to be a foreign language teacher, which one would you feel best pleased with? Being happy and down to earth isn't good enough though, in America there has to be a rags to riches story for one to be deemed successful.

creddit 7y ago
It doesn’t seem you read the full story. For one thing, it wasn’t just that he invented the new Cheeto. He also became an executive in the same large, successful org. Secondly, why does it matter that what he made was a popular junk food made of corn? If he was a chef that made a popular meal made of locally sourced ingredients, would you find that more impressive? If he were an artist and he splattered paint onto canvas made of cotton? I’d be careful to not trivialize what it means to make something beloved by millions just because you ascribe negative value to junk food and corn.
- Theodores 7y ago
  > He also became an executive in the same large, successful org. This is the bit that some people would be underwhelmed by. Without the janitor story he is just a corporate executive, 'a suit'. And yes I did read the story, 1 + 1/2 times... The junk food industry is not where the creativity is at. That is not a put down, it is a statement of fact. Most junk food products have not changed in decades. A century ago the brands were the same. I am sure that there are plenty of fascinating aspects to the business, you could get into vending machines or industrial processes to find a load of intellectually stimulating stuff going on. But look at it this way: If you were having to do speed dating and you were an executive for a junk food company, how would you rate your chances? Even if you had inspired a new flavour of corn chip then you are not going to have the most captivating of chat when the topic inevitably moves on to what you do for a living. If this was me and the guy at the next table was nurse in the emergency ward, a teacher or even an artist then I would be concerned about my chances. The fast paced world of junk food sales just has the word 'dull' run before it. As for corn, there is something you hit upon in your comment. Most things in America are made of corn. It is in everything. Beverages have the corn syrup. The meat is made from corn fed animals. Even the chips that should be 'potato crisps' are made of corn. It is this industrial feedstock variety of corn that goes into these things, not a product that can be eaten corn on the cob style as a seasonal treat. In the rest of the world people eat less corn. I very much doubt that in France there are people having fake flavoured corn products several times a day. Various native American tribes were corn fed. They did all the original genetic modification for corn. You have to wonder how much modern America really has moved on since everyone is still corn fed there. Many millions of Americans like cocaine, crack, crystal meth and heroin. Nothing makes them happier. A little bit of their brain lights up when they score. These more powerful substances have hijacked the same pleasure circuits used for the reward system. The junk food industry has the same gig going on, to all intents and purposes the customers are every bit as addicted as the crack head is. And you just have to look at the waist line of modern day, corn fed America. It isn't healthy. We hear about food deserts in America. These same food deserts are the places you will find the most outlets for junk food. It is like an invasive species. The humble potato or the carrot does not have marketing executives trying to get the vegetable into everyone's home. The junk food industry does. Every school has cooks trying their hardest to make nutritional meals for kids. The junk food industry is the enemy. If I was an executive, a suit, in the junk food industry then I don't imagine that I would be getting a lot of respect from the school chef. So, no, I am not putting this guy on a pedestal (or wanting to begrudge him) just because he has made it to the top of corporate America.