4 ms·

Wait, what does "couldn't find a CEO" mean? Wasn't there a single VP- or director-level person in that industry willing to be a CEO for that pay? Or does that

by gota 5y ago

Wait, what does "couldn't find a CEO" mean? Wasn't there a single VP- or director-level person in that industry willing to be a CEO for that pay? Or does that mean they only consider a very small set of people who are CEO-worthy? I'm asking for general curiosity; Will look for articles but appreciate any insight or references you might have

credit_guy 5y ago
A mediocre CEO can cost a company many billions of dollars. Just look at Boeing. How difficult can it be to be the CEO of Boeing, back in 2015, let's say? It's a market with only 2 players, costumers are fairly sticky, the products don't change quickly. You just need to keep the cost under control, and deliver the airplanes on time. Right?
- France_is_bacon 5y ago
  Naw. The environment changed and competition changed with Airbus, so Boeing had to meet the competition by coming up with it's own version. Airplane designs have got to be the single most difficult manufacturing challenge by far. Being a CEO of Walmart is going to be vastly easier than Berkshire Hathaway, which has a staff of 25 people: https://i.insider.com/5311e33beab8eaf731f07865?width=1000&format=jpeg&auto=webp https://i.insider.com/5311e33beab8eaf731f07865?width=1000&fo... Costco? Just buy some big buildings and some shelves and buy some stuff, charge a membership fee and have a camera to take peoples' picture at 795 locations. I could do that in my sleep. But an airplane???? A million parts on each airplane. An unholy mess if one fails. Highly paid aeronautical engineers. Highly precise parts made of specific materials that cannot fail. Costco can open a brand new location for maybe $1 million? You can make a number of mistakes on that, and that's ok, existentially. But when a new airplane costs $1 billion, it is a whole different ballgame. Can't have any errors on that. And a lot of times, even a stellar CEO cannot save a company who's time has passed. The average time on the Standard and Poors used to be 33 years, now it is 14 years. I am positive that I could keep Costco around for another 14 years if I was the CEO. "Yeah, people, keep doing what you're doing, it's all good. Keep stocking those shelves, you're doing just great." And give me the $15 million salary every year.
- throwaway210222 5y ago
  > You just need to keep the cost under control, and deliver the airplanes on time. Right? And keep them in the air.

by gota 5y ago

credit_guy 5y ago

A mediocre CEO can cost a company many billions of dollars. Just look at Boeing. How difficult can it be to be the CEO of Boeing, back in 2015, let's say? It's a market with only 2 players, costumers are fairly sticky, the products don't change quickly. You just need to keep the cost under control, and deliver the airplanes on time. Right?

France_is_bacon 5y ago
Naw. The environment changed and competition changed with Airbus, so Boeing had to meet the competition by coming up with it's own version. Airplane designs have got to be the single most difficult manufacturing challenge by far. Being a CEO of Walmart is going to be vastly easier than Berkshire Hathaway, which has a staff of 25 people: https://i.insider.com/5311e33beab8eaf731f07865?width=1000&format=jpeg&auto=webp https://i.insider.com/5311e33beab8eaf731f07865?width=1000&fo... Costco? Just buy some big buildings and some shelves and buy some stuff, charge a membership fee and have a camera to take peoples' picture at 795 locations. I could do that in my sleep. But an airplane???? A million parts on each airplane. An unholy mess if one fails. Highly paid aeronautical engineers. Highly precise parts made of specific materials that cannot fail. Costco can open a brand new location for maybe $1 million? You can make a number of mistakes on that, and that's ok, existentially. But when a new airplane costs $1 billion, it is a whole different ballgame. Can't have any errors on that. And a lot of times, even a stellar CEO cannot save a company who's time has passed. The average time on the Standard and Poors used to be 33 years, now it is 14 years. I am positive that I could keep Costco around for another 14 years if I was the CEO. "Yeah, people, keep doing what you're doing, it's all good. Keep stocking those shelves, you're doing just great." And give me the $15 million salary every year.
throwaway210222 5y ago
> You just need to keep the cost under control, and deliver the airplanes on time. Right? And keep them in the air.