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Taking management lessons from Mao? It’s important to keep in mind his track record. Just one example, the time he ordered all the sparrows in China killed[1] w

Taking management lessons from Mao? It’s important to keep in mind his track record. Just one example, the time he ordered all the sparrows in China killed[1] which greatly contributed to a famine that killed around 30 million people[2]. 1. https://gizmodo.com/china-s-worst-self-inflicted-environmental-disaster-th-5927112 https://gizmodo.com/china-s-worst-self-inflicted-environment... 2. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Chinese_Famine https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Chinese_Famine

foxhop 5y ago
Yes. This happened, profoundly dumb. The leadership which used propaganda to the masses to destroy nature in this way, the very nature which we are intimately part of and no technology can replace.
- swayvil 5y ago
  On the contrary. Farmers have killed pests for thousands of years, with good results. This is merely a natural elaboration of that. It's a reasonable plan. Which goes to show you that even what "makes sense" can be dumb. Which is a strong argument for personal autonomy and against totalitarian measures. To avoid putting all of your eggs in one basket and such.
  - foxhop 5y ago
    Total War on nature in the name of short term increase in ANNUAL production is the definition of insanity. Our subsistence comes from nature not technology.
- qualudeheart 5y ago
  I laud Mao`s attempts, as hard as they may have failed. War and agriculture are the foundations of all successful states. Once both have been rectified higher forms of progress are made possible and industry can be established.
  - foxhop 5y ago
    War on nature is in the name of short term increase in ANNUAL production is the definition of insanity. Our subsistence comes from nature not technology.
ZeroGravitas 5y ago
> On the advice of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Mao declared full-stop to the Great Sparrow Campaign, replacing the birds with bed bugs on the Four Pests naughty list. Sadly, we're grading on a curve these days and this sounds almost unbelievably reasonable by modern standards.
qualudeheart 5y ago
He led one of the most successful political movements in history and created what is now the second most powerful country on the planet. Surely his wisdom can benefit proletariat and bourgeois alike?
dirtyid 5y ago
He broke a few extra eggs to make the omelette, ergo 30% bad and 70% good, but the alternative is no omelette. Mao's track record is fine for someone who decided to pivot hard to tackle extremely challenging problems to setup country on path for development. The alternative is stagnation from not making those decisions which could magnify into existential risks. It's national restructuring. Stagnation, to stay on topic is what too many in managerial class are content with. People fixate over deaths and human costs, I'm sure there's crass observation on nature of human capita somewhere. Don't get me wrong, GLP was clearly excessive, preventable since it was an human problem (bad communication, logitistics). Mao was a bad manager / statesman who pursued right high level goals with enough charisma to propel PRC to next level. All while pitting employees with managers against each other and playing power games to cover his ass and protect his status. Which is probably as close reflection to modern corporate house of cards as one can get.

foxhop 5y ago

Yes. This happened, profoundly dumb. The leadership which used propaganda to the masses to destroy nature in this way, the very nature which we are intimately part of and no technology can replace.

swayvil 5y ago
On the contrary. Farmers have killed pests for thousands of years, with good results. This is merely a natural elaboration of that. It's a reasonable plan. Which goes to show you that even what "makes sense" can be dumb. Which is a strong argument for personal autonomy and against totalitarian measures. To avoid putting all of your eggs in one basket and such.
- foxhop 5y ago
  Total War on nature in the name of short term increase in ANNUAL production is the definition of insanity. Our subsistence comes from nature not technology.
qualudeheart 5y ago
I laud Mao`s attempts, as hard as they may have failed. War and agriculture are the foundations of all successful states. Once both have been rectified higher forms of progress are made possible and industry can be established.
- foxhop 5y ago
  War on nature is in the name of short term increase in ANNUAL production is the definition of insanity. Our subsistence comes from nature not technology.

ZeroGravitas 5y ago

> On the advice of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Mao declared full-stop to the Great Sparrow Campaign, replacing the birds with bed bugs on the Four Pests naughty list. Sadly, we're grading on a curve these days and this sounds almost unbelievably reasonable by modern standards.

qualudeheart 5y ago

He led one of the most successful political movements in history and created what is now the second most powerful country on the planet. Surely his wisdom can benefit proletariat and bourgeois alike?

dirtyid 5y ago

He broke a few extra eggs to make the omelette, ergo 30% bad and 70% good, but the alternative is no omelette. Mao's track record is fine for someone who decided to pivot hard to tackle extremely challenging problems to setup country on path for development. The alternative is stagnation from not making those decisions which could magnify into existential risks. It's national restructuring. Stagnation, to stay on topic is what too many in managerial class are content with. People fixate over deaths and human costs, I'm sure there's crass observation on nature of human capita somewhere. Don't get me wrong, GLP was clearly excessive, preventable since it was an human problem (bad communication, logitistics). Mao was a bad manager / statesman who pursued right high level goals with enough charisma to propel PRC to next level. All while pitting employees with managers against each other and playing power games to cover his ass and protect his status. Which is probably as close reflection to modern corporate house of cards as one can get.