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Disclaimer, I work for Toyota, opinions my own. > Is it possible to be the hero who transforms a company and get rich doing it? Or do you basically have to mak

Disclaimer, I work for Toyota, opinions my own. > Is it possible to be the hero who transforms a company and get rich doing it? Or do you basically have to make a lot of enemies to do the right thing and get no more money than if you just kept your head down while looking for a job at a competitor. You might get rich transforming the company, but you certainly will make a lot of enemies. Everyone at these car companies know that as the focus changes to EVs anyone with skills related to the combustion side of things will see a reduction in status and probably pay. Few of those people are anxious to this transition happen during their career and they will not be happy with people who expedite. This is true to a lesser extent with people whose skills are transferable to EV but work in combustion now. To progress a career you generally need to lead new projects and those projects require resources. So to keep skilled people running your combustion business you need to offer them the resources to run these kinds of projects to progress their career even if the money would be better spent on EV development. These people will also fight against money being allocated to EV development rather than their own projects. EV companies don't have these problems. They have piles of cash and a mandate to get it out the door as fast as possible. Inside the company, everyone's career trajectory is more or less aligned with the company's and so there's no foot dragging.

bell-cot 5y ago
This seems a decent explanation for Honda's plans to (possibly) expand into producing rocket engines & rockets. At least at more-junior levels of combustion engineering.
Clockface12 5y ago
Exactly. It's surely significant that Tesla has overtaken all the incumbents and now has the greatest market share in plug-in electric vehicles (i.e. plug-in hybrids and battery-electric vehicles combined): https://www.statista.com/statistics/541390/global-sales-of-plug-in-electric-vehicle-manufacturers/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/541390/global-sales-of-p... Not long ago, the incumbents ridiculed Tesla and did their best to publicise various teething problems at Tesla .. production delays, fit-and-finish issues, etc. That's a human reaction from people who've invested their whole careers into building IC engines. But it's precisely indicative of foot dragging: rather than focusing on leveraging their greater manufacturing expertise in the fight for EV market share, they underestimated the challenge coming their way.
- Hermitian909 5y ago
  > Rather than focusing on leveraging their greater manufacturing expertise in the fight for EV market share, they underestimated the challenge coming their way. I think this phrasing paints people at these companies as being dumber or less perceptive than they are. People are simply acting in their own best interest rather than the company's. People absolutely downplay the EV threat beyond what they believe in order to further their own interests. I would also say some of the foot dragging is just leadership not having limited capacity to think about different things. Leadership needs to keep an eye on all the existing supply chain and manufacturing stuff while also managing the EV side closely enough to be able to understand the benefits of different initiatives.
  - Clockface12 5y ago
    You're right about people simply acting in a way they think will serve their personal interests, and it's a nice distinction. Thank you. Another aspect of legacy holding companies back.

bell-cot 5y ago

This seems a decent explanation for Honda's plans to (possibly) expand into producing rocket engines & rockets. At least at more-junior levels of combustion engineering.

Clockface12 5y ago

Exactly. It's surely significant that Tesla has overtaken all the incumbents and now has the greatest market share in plug-in electric vehicles (i.e. plug-in hybrids and battery-electric vehicles combined): https://www.statista.com/statistics/541390/global-sales-of-plug-in-electric-vehicle-manufacturers/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/541390/global-sales-of-p... Not long ago, the incumbents ridiculed Tesla and did their best to publicise various teething problems at Tesla .. production delays, fit-and-finish issues, etc. That's a human reaction from people who've invested their whole careers into building IC engines. But it's precisely indicative of foot dragging: rather than focusing on leveraging their greater manufacturing expertise in the fight for EV market share, they underestimated the challenge coming their way.

Hermitian909 5y ago
> Rather than focusing on leveraging their greater manufacturing expertise in the fight for EV market share, they underestimated the challenge coming their way. I think this phrasing paints people at these companies as being dumber or less perceptive than they are. People are simply acting in their own best interest rather than the company's. People absolutely downplay the EV threat beyond what they believe in order to further their own interests. I would also say some of the foot dragging is just leadership not having limited capacity to think about different things. Leadership needs to keep an eye on all the existing supply chain and manufacturing stuff while also managing the EV side closely enough to be able to understand the benefits of different initiatives.
- Clockface12 5y ago
  You're right about people simply acting in a way they think will serve their personal interests, and it's a nice distinction. Thank you. Another aspect of legacy holding companies back.