7 ms·

The point is that the CEO was open minded (he took a phone call from a janitor... and actually listened to him and then gave him a chance). He saw past this man

by _wldu 7y ago

The point is that the CEO was open minded (he took a phone call from a janitor... and actually listened to him and then gave him a chance). He saw past this mans lack of education and experience and focused on his dedication and enthusiasm. There's value in everyone, everywhere (even the lowest employees). We need leaders who can put ego aside and see that. IMO, that was the point of the story. The subsequent success of this man is another story entirely (and a good one I bet). I'm just glad that someone recognized his talent. Edit: Credit also goes to the secretary for putting the call through to the CEO and not acting as a gate-keeper. She could have ended the call. Thankfully, she was open minded too.

nashashmi 7y ago
Everyone gets a chance when they are young. I know lots of people who beared with me when they should not have.
- PostOnce 7y ago
  You got a chance, people should get a chance, but it's not true that everyone does get a chance. Some people are just dealt a bad hand and get no lucky breaks, and have no path to leave mediocrity despite their effort. I think people are downvoting because they disagree with you and not explaining why.
- carapace 7y ago
  > people who bore* with me Past tense of verb "bear" is "bore" (not "boar", FWIW.) ;-)
  - nashashmi 7y ago
    Thanks.
  - tk75x 7y ago
    FYI, English is slowly evolving away from having irregular forms of many verbs. This means that simply adding -ed to the verb is acceptable. Some common examples: bend and bent/bended, lend and lent/lended, weep and wept/weeped...
    - carapace 7y ago
      Acceptable to whom? Degradation of language is degradation of mind. Most people don't like to sound ignorant and unlettered. You saw that nashashmi graciously said, "Thanks", eh?
jackvalentine 7y ago
My takeaway was that not only was a janitor directly employed by the company (as cleaning services are basically 100% outsourced in my experience now) but was paid well and felt part of the company such that he was motivated to stay interested and contribute.
- triangleman 7y ago
  Yes that is quite the anachronism these days.
  - deleted 7y ago
    [deleted]
  - ddingus 7y ago
    Too bad. Perhaps there is an opportunity cost argument for a better alternative.
    - SketchySeaBeast 7y ago
      I imagine it's super hard to quantify the profit of "ideas from janitor", but super easy to quantify the savings of "no longer paying for a janitor". Plus, if every company has a gentleman's agreement to ignore the help then there's no lost opportunity that the competition can jump on.
      - ddingus 7y ago
        Sure there is, they all just agree to ignore it.
- runamok 7y ago
  Right. The current philosophy is to outsource anything that isn't your core competency. There used to be a path from lowly janitor/stocker/etc. to the executive suite but that route has largely closed. Your comment reminded me of this article I read a while back: https://www.cnbc.com/2017/09/21/gail-evans-went-from-janitor-to-executive-at-microsoft-and-mercer.html https://www.cnbc.com/2017/09/21/gail-evans-went-from-janitor...
RomanBob 7y ago
>even the lowest employees Why is the janitor considered "the lowest employee" by you?
- martyvis 7y ago
  In most companies the level is demonstrated by the investment in the employee's career. I would imagine janitors :- * Get the lowest salary * Are often outsourced with lowest priced bidder winning * Don't get on programs like bonuses, training, career advancement * Aren't used in company marketing (Imagine "We have the best cleaned offices")
  - deleted 7y ago
    [deleted]
- scarejunba 7y ago
  Amusing aside: once I was talking to this engineer on the phone and he was talking about driver development and I, in an attempt to relate, remarked that that sounds rather hard and that it's been a while since I wrote low-level software like that. Somehow that came across as insulting what he did as of low skill level. Oops! Awful faux pas. I think I managed to clarify but I've decided to use less ambiguous words next time ("close to the metal", for instance).
  - chaosite 7y ago
    This is solved (or exacerbated, depending on your point of view) in non-English speaking environments that nonetheless use English terms of art. In my case, we use "low-level" (in English) to convey the "close to the metal", systems programming idea, and the direct translation of "low-level" to refer to shoddy code.
  - qazpot 7y ago
    I think you are unnecessarily censoring yourself. Low-level software in computer circles means that it is closer to the metal and no computer engineer in their right mind will consider low-level software to mean software that require less skill to write.
dnautics 7y ago
According to the article by "ask a mexican" (can't find it atm) but at the time frito lay had an active "solicit business ideas from all levels of the company" program, and they really meant it (some companies do not when they do these sorts of things)
JumpCrisscross 7y ago
> There's value in everyone, everywhere I’d say value can be found anywhere. It isn’t everywhere. And not everyone has this man’s ability. (Regardless of background.)
- jackbravo 7y ago
  It's like in ratatouille movie, everyone can cook doesn't mean everybody can be a great cook, but that a great cook can come from anywhere.
SkyBelow 7y ago
>He saw past this mans lack of education and experience Did he lack education and experience or formal education and business experience? Being able to manage people requires skills that no formal education I've seen can teach you. It can help, but it doesn't impart the required basics. Things like being able to read a person, know who is being honest, know what is the appropriate level of joking around for a superior/subordinate relationship. Did he have the skills from non-recognized sources or did he pick these up on the go? Or was some other characteristic enough to make up for a deficit in these?
Chazprime 7y ago
That was my take on this story as well...that the CEO was humble enough to listen to his employees. That's hard to do at a large company and we don't see enough of it.
nvusuvu 7y ago
I have a feeling he wouldn't have given up if the secretary stonewalled him. But kudos to her, still.

by _wldu 7y ago

nashashmi 7y ago

Everyone gets a chance when they are young. I know lots of people who beared with me when they should not have.

PostOnce 7y ago
You got a chance, people should get a chance, but it's not true that everyone does get a chance. Some people are just dealt a bad hand and get no lucky breaks, and have no path to leave mediocrity despite their effort. I think people are downvoting because they disagree with you and not explaining why.
carapace 7y ago
> people who bore* with me Past tense of verb "bear" is "bore" (not "boar", FWIW.) ;-)
- nashashmi 7y ago
  Thanks.
- tk75x 7y ago
  FYI, English is slowly evolving away from having irregular forms of many verbs. This means that simply adding -ed to the verb is acceptable. Some common examples: bend and bent/bended, lend and lent/lended, weep and wept/weeped...
  - carapace 7y ago
    Acceptable to whom? Degradation of language is degradation of mind. Most people don't like to sound ignorant and unlettered. You saw that nashashmi graciously said, "Thanks", eh?

jackvalentine 7y ago

My takeaway was that not only was a janitor directly employed by the company (as cleaning services are basically 100% outsourced in my experience now) but was paid well and felt part of the company such that he was motivated to stay interested and contribute.

triangleman 7y ago
Yes that is quite the anachronism these days.
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
- ddingus 7y ago
  Too bad. Perhaps there is an opportunity cost argument for a better alternative.
  - SketchySeaBeast 7y ago
    I imagine it's super hard to quantify the profit of "ideas from janitor", but super easy to quantify the savings of "no longer paying for a janitor". Plus, if every company has a gentleman's agreement to ignore the help then there's no lost opportunity that the competition can jump on.
    - ddingus 7y ago
      Sure there is, they all just agree to ignore it.
runamok 7y ago
Right. The current philosophy is to outsource anything that isn't your core competency. There used to be a path from lowly janitor/stocker/etc. to the executive suite but that route has largely closed. Your comment reminded me of this article I read a while back: https://www.cnbc.com/2017/09/21/gail-evans-went-from-janitor-to-executive-at-microsoft-and-mercer.html https://www.cnbc.com/2017/09/21/gail-evans-went-from-janitor...

RomanBob 7y ago

>even the lowest employees Why is the janitor considered "the lowest employee" by you?

martyvis 7y ago
In most companies the level is demonstrated by the investment in the employee's career. I would imagine janitors :- * Get the lowest salary * Are often outsourced with lowest priced bidder winning * Don't get on programs like bonuses, training, career advancement * Aren't used in company marketing (Imagine "We have the best cleaned offices")
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
scarejunba 7y ago
Amusing aside: once I was talking to this engineer on the phone and he was talking about driver development and I, in an attempt to relate, remarked that that sounds rather hard and that it's been a while since I wrote low-level software like that. Somehow that came across as insulting what he did as of low skill level. Oops! Awful faux pas. I think I managed to clarify but I've decided to use less ambiguous words next time ("close to the metal", for instance).
- chaosite 7y ago
  This is solved (or exacerbated, depending on your point of view) in non-English speaking environments that nonetheless use English terms of art. In my case, we use "low-level" (in English) to convey the "close to the metal", systems programming idea, and the direct translation of "low-level" to refer to shoddy code.
- qazpot 7y ago
  I think you are unnecessarily censoring yourself. Low-level software in computer circles means that it is closer to the metal and no computer engineer in their right mind will consider low-level software to mean software that require less skill to write.

dnautics 7y ago

According to the article by "ask a mexican" (can't find it atm) but at the time frito lay had an active "solicit business ideas from all levels of the company" program, and they really meant it (some companies do not when they do these sorts of things)

JumpCrisscross 7y ago

> There's value in everyone, everywhere I’d say value can be found anywhere. It isn’t everywhere. And not everyone has this man’s ability. (Regardless of background.)

jackbravo 7y ago
It's like in ratatouille movie, everyone can cook doesn't mean everybody can be a great cook, but that a great cook can come from anywhere.

SkyBelow 7y ago

>He saw past this mans lack of education and experience Did he lack education and experience or formal education and business experience? Being able to manage people requires skills that no formal education I've seen can teach you. It can help, but it doesn't impart the required basics. Things like being able to read a person, know who is being honest, know what is the appropriate level of joking around for a superior/subordinate relationship. Did he have the skills from non-recognized sources or did he pick these up on the go? Or was some other characteristic enough to make up for a deficit in these?

Chazprime 7y ago

That was my take on this story as well...that the CEO was humble enough to listen to his employees. That's hard to do at a large company and we don't see enough of it.

nvusuvu 7y ago

I have a feeling he wouldn't have given up if the secretary stonewalled him. But kudos to her, still.