4 ms·

Its baffling to me how petty these executives got. You're an executive of a publicly traded company and your biggest concern is a couple running a blog? They c

Its baffling to me how petty these executives got. You're an executive of a publicly traded company and your biggest concern is a couple running a blog? They could have easily ignored them and no one would have noticed. Crazy.

bell-cot 4y ago
Psychologically, a big part of how they became a successful executive might be an obsession with controlling...
- aaaaaaaaata 4y ago
  I think it calls into the question what the definition of success is, as an executive. Plenty of these people are stumbling through their day with no meaningful contributions, and if the larger organization does okay, everyone assumes they're performing. Are they?
  - throwaway0a5e 4y ago
    Plenty of managers and executives go off on some stupid tangent and actively harm the organizations they mange. Being a harmless kind of incompetent is worth something. Maybe not what these kinds of guys get paid, but still something. You see this a lot in very rigid bureaucratic organizations where you "need" to have a body in the org chart because of the rules. The people who just bumble about harmlessly wind up managing things that don't need management, the box gets checked and everyone goes home happy.
    - Veen 4y ago
      Your comment reminds me of this quote: > I divide my officers into four classes as follows: the clever, the industrious, the lazy, and the stupid. Each officer always possesses two of these qualities. Those who are clever and industrious I appoint to the General Staff. Use can under certain circumstances be made of those who are stupid and lazy. The man who is clever and lazy qualifies for the highest leadership posts. He has the requisite and the mental clarity for difficult decisions. But whoever is stupid and industrious must be got rid of, for he is too dangerous. https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780191826719.001.0001/q-oro-ed4-00012327 https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/978019182...
      - lupire 4y ago
        The original Staff Engineer!
RobLach 4y ago
A "successful career" that our culture elevates as a path that will be good for you doesn't always fulfill the needs in your life that you truly are seeking. Usually that path doesn't even give you the space to figure that out. You end up in a situation where your desires don't match your environment and trying to get whatever you're truly missing takes abhorrent shapes.
- mattgreenrocks 4y ago
  Great insight. There's no substitute for intrinsic motivation, and I've become more suspicious as I've gotten older of how business culture applies the "success" label over and over on stuff to entice people.
somenameforme 4y ago
One thing that's so easy to kind of mentally ignore is that every single person - politician, executive, or janitor is just another person like we all are. And that comes with good-sides and bad-sides of humanity. Another similar example that struck a chord for me was the Snowden leaks showing the NSA were trading peoples nudes/sexual pics at work. [1] One of the biggest arguments people apathetic towards privacy make is something along 'the [e.g.] NSA doesn't care about your [e.g.] tits' - maybe true, maybe not - but the humans who actually make up this entity? Oh yes they most certainly do. [1] - https://www.newsweek.com/snowden-claims-nsa-workers-circulate-sexually-compromising-images-targets-259618 https://www.newsweek.com/snowden-claims-nsa-workers-circulat...
- winnipeg 4y ago
  Did Snowden's leaks prove this, or was it simply reported by him? In any case, I believe his report on this matter was accurate/truthful.
- rendall 4y ago
  I would totally collect and trade shots of peoples' "O face" if I worked there.
  - moistly 4y ago
    One would think that isn’t the kind of character flaw one would want to reveal to potential future employers. You admit that you can not be trusted with private information.
    - rendall 4y ago
      Sssh. Relax, pumpkin. My career is secure, but sincerely, thank you for your concern. It is honestly touching. Any "potentially future employer", or employee, for that matter, must have a sense of humor, otherwise, it won't be a fit.
      - colejohnson66 4y ago

bell-cot 4y ago

Psychologically, a big part of how they became a successful executive might be an obsession with controlling...

aaaaaaaaata 4y ago
I think it calls into the question what the definition of success is, as an executive. Plenty of these people are stumbling through their day with no meaningful contributions, and if the larger organization does okay, everyone assumes they're performing. Are they?
- throwaway0a5e 4y ago
  Plenty of managers and executives go off on some stupid tangent and actively harm the organizations they mange. Being a harmless kind of incompetent is worth something. Maybe not what these kinds of guys get paid, but still something. You see this a lot in very rigid bureaucratic organizations where you "need" to have a body in the org chart because of the rules. The people who just bumble about harmlessly wind up managing things that don't need management, the box gets checked and everyone goes home happy.
  - Veen 4y ago
    Your comment reminds me of this quote: > I divide my officers into four classes as follows: the clever, the industrious, the lazy, and the stupid. Each officer always possesses two of these qualities. Those who are clever and industrious I appoint to the General Staff. Use can under certain circumstances be made of those who are stupid and lazy. The man who is clever and lazy qualifies for the highest leadership posts. He has the requisite and the mental clarity for difficult decisions. But whoever is stupid and industrious must be got rid of, for he is too dangerous. https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780191826719.001.0001/q-oro-ed4-00012327 https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/978019182...
    - lupire 4y ago
      The original Staff Engineer!

RobLach 4y ago

A "successful career" that our culture elevates as a path that will be good for you doesn't always fulfill the needs in your life that you truly are seeking. Usually that path doesn't even give you the space to figure that out. You end up in a situation where your desires don't match your environment and trying to get whatever you're truly missing takes abhorrent shapes.

mattgreenrocks 4y ago
Great insight. There's no substitute for intrinsic motivation, and I've become more suspicious as I've gotten older of how business culture applies the "success" label over and over on stuff to entice people.

somenameforme 4y ago

One thing that's so easy to kind of mentally ignore is that every single person - politician, executive, or janitor is just another person like we all are. And that comes with good-sides and bad-sides of humanity. Another similar example that struck a chord for me was the Snowden leaks showing the NSA were trading peoples nudes/sexual pics at work. [1] One of the biggest arguments people apathetic towards privacy make is something along 'the [e.g.] NSA doesn't care about your [e.g.] tits' - maybe true, maybe not - but the humans who actually make up this entity? Oh yes they most certainly do. [1] - https://www.newsweek.com/snowden-claims-nsa-workers-circulate-sexually-compromising-images-targets-259618 https://www.newsweek.com/snowden-claims-nsa-workers-circulat...

winnipeg 4y ago
Did Snowden's leaks prove this, or was it simply reported by him? In any case, I believe his report on this matter was accurate/truthful.
rendall 4y ago
I would totally collect and trade shots of peoples' "O face" if I worked there.
- moistly 4y ago
  One would think that isn’t the kind of character flaw one would want to reveal to potential future employers. You admit that you can not be trusted with private information.
  - rendall 4y ago
    Sssh. Relax, pumpkin. My career is secure, but sincerely, thank you for your concern. It is honestly touching. Any "potentially future employer", or employee, for that matter, must have a sense of humor, otherwise, it won't be a fit.
    - colejohnson66 4y ago