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The writeup says that Lowe was installed as CEO by the company that bought MoviePass, Helios & Matheson Analytics, and that the shift down to the $10 price poin
by smacktoward 7y ago
The writeup says that Lowe was installed as CEO by the company that bought MoviePass, Helios & Matheson Analytics, and that the shift down to the $10 price point was the brainstorm of H&M's own CEO, Ted Matheson.
Put yourself in Matheson's (presumably quite expensive) shoes for a moment. You're in the process of acquiring this company, MoviePass, and you have some Big Ideas™ for it. Who would you want to have sitting in that company's CEO chair? Not an independent-minded entrepreneur who's full of ideas of their own, that's for sure. No, what you'd want is a yes-man, an amiable non-entity who can be counted on to do what you tell them to do while otherwise staying out of your way and letting you play with your new toy.
It's not uncommon for wealthy people to have a few people like this in their entourage, people whose job is to fill a chair so as to prevent someone who could cause the rich guy trouble from filling it instead. It's a job whose only requirements are that you get along with the Big Guy and are willing to unquestioningly do anything he tells you to. In other words, it requires all the business savvy of a block of cheese. But it definitely pays well.
- lotsofpulp 7y agoThey also serve as a fall guy for the real decision maker(s), in case things go south.
- nafey 7y agoThis reminds me of Gervais principle. Basically sociopaths use clueless managers as pawn. More details here: https://www.ribbonfarm.com/2009/10/07/the-gervais-principle-or-the-office-according-to-the-office/ https://www.ribbonfarm.com/2009/10/07/the-gervais-principle-...
- debatem1 7y agoThat's an amazing article. Thank you for sharing.
- cntrlaltdlt 7y agoThat was an entertaining read. Takes me back to a course in IO psychology I took on workplace motivation. Intriguing as it was in some sense, the "models" that are hypothesized in this field are both hilarious and ridiculous. They are at best ad hoc representations of anecdotal information. I think the only redeeming portion is relating all of this posturing to some sort of Darwinian understanding of expressed phenotypes with in corporate culture. Instead of reproduction via valued phenotypes. It's task assignment via phenotypes (typically irrespective of gender although that's a different discussion obviously). The reason these types of classification structures fall apart from my view suggests a form of causality or even a form of determinism I've never been comfortable with. This is shown further with post hoc justification. All that said I still enjoy reading this kind of stuff, if nothing else then to understand how different people group/classify/model the world around them but group/subgroups.
- elliekelly 7y agoGreat read, thanks for sharing. May I ask how you originally stumbled upon that?
- exolymph 7y agoIt's a Hacker News classic, so a lot of the people here have read it, and they link to it when it's relevant.
- ca98am79 7y agoHow do you acquire a job like this?
- smacktoward 7y agoHave been the Big Guy's college roommate. Be the underachieving son of the Big Guy's favorite tennis partner. That sort of thing.
- astronautjones 7y agostart golfing, try to be richer and whiter
- rolltiide 7y agoyes higher probability when you have rich white people vouch for you yes, going where they are helps, be interesting, act like them, do some lines (optional) - if that doesn't come natural because you pride yourself in conforming to a different subculture - then try this perspective: this same strategy works in every country. get someone that looks like the power group in those countries. you aren't going to expand your market in China and simultaneously worry about disenfranchised minority groups in China, you're going to go in China guns blazing with a local influencer that's a registered party member. You aren't going to expand into former Soviet countries, digging for disenfranchised minority groups to be on your billboard just to show how much progress has been made, you are going to go there for sales and support. It's a mistake to treat America and the rest of the West differently. After you already are comfortable, you can consider trying to inspire people that look like you or have the same background as you. But before then, its just a distraction when there is a path of less resistance.
- wildduck 7y agohttps://stuffwhitepeoplelike.com https://stuffwhitepeoplelike.com
- Zelphyr 7y agoSee also: The Hudsucker Proxy
- PhasmaFelis 7y agoGiven how obvious that seems to be, how did Lowe come away with a reputation as a savvy businessman?
- rolltiide 7y ago> the writeup says that Lowe was installed as CEO by the company that bought MoviePass, Helios & Matheson Analytics, and that the shift down to the $10 price point was the brainstorm of H&M's own CEO, Ted Matheson. yeah I've been doing advisory for time and sometimes that means installing myself as the board or executive in a company I'm advising or my friends or my friends have made a partnership to create another venture, but I consult with them, or I try to negotiate being a shareholder in some way etc we always trade our network because its convenient and we work well together it didn't start as nepotism, but now we are all just trying to get paid and get clout for more support in the future I think a lot of people just work with their networks. Its honestly a miracle at all that there are giant corporations that hire basically anyone and pride themselves in doing so.
- orky56 7y agoSounds like something to do with Russia, US, and the presidency...