5 ms·

Frankly I found the narcissism a little off-putting. Lately It seems to be the main requirement for being a CEO. Among other things: - She couldn't check the s

by ojbyrne 18y ago

Frankly I found the narcissism a little off-putting. Lately It seems to be the main requirement for being a CEO. Among other things: - She couldn't check the spelling of "Visacalc"(sic)? - Titling every second paragraph with "How I moved on" - just asks to have the phrase ", leaving wreckage in my wake" after it. - "feed my soul" - "I rented funny movies" So now you're basically competing with every stay at home mom for work at home plans. - "And I lived in that space for too long" Space? If it was that difficult, couldn't you have learned to talk like a real person, rather than an executive drone. - "I respond to visual goals, so I did a vision board: I took white poster board and I pasted pictures and phrases that represented my goals." - so now you're competing with elementary school students. - "I mean, I wasn’t crying every day nor did I drive to the Golden Gate Bridge and contemplate jumping." - so she actually lives in the Bay Area - which has massive support systems for failed entrepreneurs and giant egos. Boo fucking hoo. Now if she goes on and actually does something great with smartnow.com I'll eat my words. Till then I'll repeat "Boo fucking hoo." And I'll pose a question - when pets.com was crashing down around her ears, how much money did she walk away with? Apparently enough to not work till several years later, for starters.

bprater 18y ago
Having a bad day? There are many lessons to be learned in life. You may not resonate with her but the lessons she has learned are universal.
- nostrademons 18y ago
  I dunno - I also found the article to be really heavy on platitudes and light on real advice. It basically boiled down to one mistake - "I took it personally and started wallowing in self-pity" - and one piece of advice - "Get over it." And ironically, her advice almost makes it seem like she hasn't taken her own advice, because the article is all about her. I was kinda hoping for some mistakes she made running the business and what she's learned from them.
  - pchristensen 18y ago
    Do you have any idea how many people are "wallowing in self-pity" and do need to "get over it"? Why should she write about the Pets business failure? It's on her site SmartNow, which in the bio says: "She founded SmartNow.com last year to help women help themselves." I don't think people coming to the site care about sustainable revenues, cost structures, brand management, etc. But seeing a successful woman take a hard knock and pull herself together better than ever might be interesting.
Tichy 18y ago
So you think she wasn't really depressed? Lot's of people are depressed, even though their living circumstances don't seem to warrant it. Boo fucking hoo? Maybe it is just a variant of what is described in "Fooled By Randomness" about this guy who was being on of the top earners of the country, but because he lived in a neighborhood of even richer people, he still felt like a loser. All relative?
- iron_ball 18y ago
  Okay, so half a million dollars above and beyond her no doubt titanic salary and she's still depressed. I can believe that easily. Our happiness doesn't have much relationship to our financial status. So perhaps it would have cheered her up to donate half of it to a charity operating in the third world. $500,000 will buy a whole lot of anti-malarial medication, mosquito netting, goats, and microloans.
  - Tichy 18y ago
    To be honest I don't think $500000 is that much money, especially if you are depressed and worried about the future. It is good to have safety net, and $500000 is at most the minimum required amount (depending on where you live).
    - iron_ball 18y ago
      I live smack dab in the middle of Manhattan, and $250,000 would let me keep up a modest lifestyle for about four years without any job at all. The other $250,000 could save the lives of thousands. Downmod me for being self-righteous, but don't downmod me for being wrong.
      - Tichy 18y ago
        I didn't downmod you (can't, anyway). However, by your logic, you should really move out of Manhattan to somewhere where you can live for 50000$ and donate the remaining 200000$ to save the lives of thousands. Ultimately, by your logic, none of us in the western world has the right to live, because any money we spend could be used to save lots of people (supposedly). Also who is to say that a safety net of 4 years is enough? If you are too old to work, you might still live another 30 years (say you quit work life at 65 and live to 95). So with your numbers, you need to save about 2000000$ (8*250000, where 8 =~ 30/4) to feel safe enough. Not counting inflation, either, so in reality you need even more.
nonrecursive 18y ago
Why does titling paragraphs "How I moved on" ask to have the phrase "leaving wreckage in my wake" after it? >> - "I rented funny movies" So now you're basically competing with every stay at home mom for work at home plans. My partner is chronically ill, which can be pretty depressing. Awhile ago we realized that the illness is there every day, eroding our ability to be positive and enjoy life. One of the ways we deal with this is to rent funny movies. It helps, and we'd be pretty stupid to not do it because we thought we were being like stay at home moms. I don't see how this is indicative of narcissism. Also, she's describing what worked for her - I don't know how you can argue with (or downplay, or whatever it is you're doing) someone's description of their own experience. Last - you use the phrase "now she's competing with x". I have no idea why you think it's a competition in any way. She's describing techniques that worked for her. It sounds like you wanted her to radiate a smiley face, and convince it to bite her so she could develop superhuman happy powers. I just don't understand your attitude. It seems like you're viewing her as a cutthroat business person trying to fleece women in need of help by providing them with a free article.
- ojbyrne 18y ago
  Because in general, CEOs are held up to the world as superheroes demanding and getting astronomical salaries (usually set by compensation committees stocked with similar pampered upper class twits), and represented in the press by PR companies who generally extoll how they're better than everyone else. And then when their company fails and the employees walk away with nada, they not only get golden parachutes but somehow manage to evoke sympathy while not working for 5 years, supported by the lost investments of, generally, pensioners. I didn't mean to insult you or your partner, I'm in fact saying that you're probably more deserving of sympathy and respect than the person this story is about.
notsosmartnow 18y ago
Not to worry -- this new website is already passe, eclipsed by Capessa and others of higher quality.

by ojbyrne 18y ago

bprater 18y ago

Having a bad day? There are many lessons to be learned in life. You may not resonate with her but the lessons she has learned are universal.

nostrademons 18y ago
I dunno - I also found the article to be really heavy on platitudes and light on real advice. It basically boiled down to one mistake - "I took it personally and started wallowing in self-pity" - and one piece of advice - "Get over it." And ironically, her advice almost makes it seem like she hasn't taken her own advice, because the article is all about her. I was kinda hoping for some mistakes she made running the business and what she's learned from them.
- pchristensen 18y ago
  Do you have any idea how many people are "wallowing in self-pity" and do need to "get over it"? Why should she write about the Pets business failure? It's on her site SmartNow, which in the bio says: "She founded SmartNow.com last year to help women help themselves." I don't think people coming to the site care about sustainable revenues, cost structures, brand management, etc. But seeing a successful woman take a hard knock and pull herself together better than ever might be interesting.

Tichy 18y ago

So you think she wasn't really depressed? Lot's of people are depressed, even though their living circumstances don't seem to warrant it. Boo fucking hoo? Maybe it is just a variant of what is described in "Fooled By Randomness" about this guy who was being on of the top earners of the country, but because he lived in a neighborhood of even richer people, he still felt like a loser. All relative?

iron_ball 18y ago
Okay, so half a million dollars above and beyond her no doubt titanic salary and she's still depressed. I can believe that easily. Our happiness doesn't have much relationship to our financial status. So perhaps it would have cheered her up to donate half of it to a charity operating in the third world. $500,000 will buy a whole lot of anti-malarial medication, mosquito netting, goats, and microloans.
- Tichy 18y ago
  To be honest I don't think $500000 is that much money, especially if you are depressed and worried about the future. It is good to have safety net, and $500000 is at most the minimum required amount (depending on where you live).
  - iron_ball 18y ago
    I live smack dab in the middle of Manhattan, and $250,000 would let me keep up a modest lifestyle for about four years without any job at all. The other $250,000 could save the lives of thousands. Downmod me for being self-righteous, but don't downmod me for being wrong.
    - Tichy 18y ago
      I didn't downmod you (can't, anyway). However, by your logic, you should really move out of Manhattan to somewhere where you can live for 50000$ and donate the remaining 200000$ to save the lives of thousands. Ultimately, by your logic, none of us in the western world has the right to live, because any money we spend could be used to save lots of people (supposedly). Also who is to say that a safety net of 4 years is enough? If you are too old to work, you might still live another 30 years (say you quit work life at 65 and live to 95). So with your numbers, you need to save about 2000000$ (8*250000, where 8 =~ 30/4) to feel safe enough. Not counting inflation, either, so in reality you need even more.

nonrecursive 18y ago

Why does titling paragraphs "How I moved on" ask to have the phrase "leaving wreckage in my wake" after it? >> - "I rented funny movies" So now you're basically competing with every stay at home mom for work at home plans. My partner is chronically ill, which can be pretty depressing. Awhile ago we realized that the illness is there every day, eroding our ability to be positive and enjoy life. One of the ways we deal with this is to rent funny movies. It helps, and we'd be pretty stupid to not do it because we thought we were being like stay at home moms. I don't see how this is indicative of narcissism. Also, she's describing what worked for her - I don't know how you can argue with (or downplay, or whatever it is you're doing) someone's description of their own experience. Last - you use the phrase "now she's competing with x". I have no idea why you think it's a competition in any way. She's describing techniques that worked for her. It sounds like you wanted her to radiate a smiley face, and convince it to bite her so she could develop superhuman happy powers. I just don't understand your attitude. It seems like you're viewing her as a cutthroat business person trying to fleece women in need of help by providing them with a free article.

ojbyrne 18y ago
Because in general, CEOs are held up to the world as superheroes demanding and getting astronomical salaries (usually set by compensation committees stocked with similar pampered upper class twits), and represented in the press by PR companies who generally extoll how they're better than everyone else. And then when their company fails and the employees walk away with nada, they not only get golden parachutes but somehow manage to evoke sympathy while not working for 5 years, supported by the lost investments of, generally, pensioners. I didn't mean to insult you or your partner, I'm in fact saying that you're probably more deserving of sympathy and respect than the person this story is about.

notsosmartnow 18y ago

Not to worry -- this new website is already passe, eclipsed by Capessa and others of higher quality.