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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 t

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.
trappist 7y ago
Flamin' Hot Cheetos are junk food that millions of people love. In America rags to riches stories tend to involve someone who found a way to make the lives of others - many others - just a little better than they would otherwise have been. Teaching dozens or hundreds of students another language is great. Feeding millions of people a food they choose, for whatever reason, over whatever else they could have bought with that money or eaten for that snack, is a big deal.
- blub 7y ago
  Not only is junk food a big deal, it also makes people big. And big people is a big problem right now in the big ole U.S of A.

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.

trappist 7y ago

Flamin' Hot Cheetos are junk food that millions of people love. In America rags to riches stories tend to involve someone who found a way to make the lives of others - many others - just a little better than they would otherwise have been. Teaching dozens or hundreds of students another language is great. Feeding millions of people a food they choose, for whatever reason, over whatever else they could have bought with that money or eaten for that snack, is a big deal.

blub 7y ago
Not only is junk food a big deal, it also makes people big. And big people is a big problem right now in the big ole U.S of A.