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There is an artificial shortage of good CEOs. Most CEOs get to their position via nepotism of some sort. If there are 8,000 people who can design excellent CPU

by vmlagw 5y ago

There is an artificial shortage of good CEOs. Most CEOs get to their position via nepotism of some sort. If there are 8,000 people who can design excellent CPUs, there are perhaps 1,000,000 people who can recognize such talent. It is easier to recognize a great painting than to paint it. I'm surprised that HN so often lionizes those who organize the work of others.

WanderPanda 5y ago
I think the outcome depends more on the decision making when half of your chosen geniuses favour one option and the other half want something else (maybe even the opposite). Same goes for close calls like e.g. 6 vs. 4. I believe that stepping into the (rare) micromanagement questions and making good decisions is what distinguishes the Lisas, Elons and Jeffs from the mediocre managers.
skohan 5y ago
I moved from engineering to management in the past year, and it is much harder to do well than I understood. You have to deal with a lot of uncertainty, you have to be able to inspire and influence others, and failing to deliver has much more widely reaching consequences. "Organizing the work of others" is no small task, and people who can really do it well are few and far between. That's not to take anything away from engineers, but it is to say that good management is something you largely only notice when it's missing, and you need good management to create the environment where good engineers can do their work.
- B1FF_PSUVM 5y ago
  Perhaps the best fictional description I came across is Poul Anderson's The Man Who Counts: https://www.tor.com/2010/11/22/air-war-in-the-stone-age-poul-andersons-the-man-who-counts/ https://www.tor.com/2010/11/22/air-war-in-the-stone-age-poul... It's an SF book, you have a small group trying to survive in an alien world at war. The guy who pulls them through is the canny merchant, who marshalls the skills of others and negotiates their salvation. I think the narrator in the book was the engineer - and so was the author, Poul Anderson.
aliswe 5y ago
publicly traded company CEOs are NOT elected by nepotism, they are elected by the board who tend to be biased towards CEOs who have a track record of increasing the share price...

by vmlagw 5y ago

WanderPanda 5y ago

I think the outcome depends more on the decision making when half of your chosen geniuses favour one option and the other half want something else (maybe even the opposite). Same goes for close calls like e.g. 6 vs. 4. I believe that stepping into the (rare) micromanagement questions and making good decisions is what distinguishes the Lisas, Elons and Jeffs from the mediocre managers.

skohan 5y ago

I moved from engineering to management in the past year, and it is much harder to do well than I understood. You have to deal with a lot of uncertainty, you have to be able to inspire and influence others, and failing to deliver has much more widely reaching consequences. "Organizing the work of others" is no small task, and people who can really do it well are few and far between. That's not to take anything away from engineers, but it is to say that good management is something you largely only notice when it's missing, and you need good management to create the environment where good engineers can do their work.

B1FF_PSUVM 5y ago
Perhaps the best fictional description I came across is Poul Anderson's The Man Who Counts: https://www.tor.com/2010/11/22/air-war-in-the-stone-age-poul-andersons-the-man-who-counts/ https://www.tor.com/2010/11/22/air-war-in-the-stone-age-poul... It's an SF book, you have a small group trying to survive in an alien world at war. The guy who pulls them through is the canny merchant, who marshalls the skills of others and negotiates their salvation. I think the narrator in the book was the engineer - and so was the author, Poul Anderson.

aliswe 5y ago

publicly traded company CEOs are NOT elected by nepotism, they are elected by the board who tend to be biased towards CEOs who have a track record of increasing the share price...