4 ms·

Looks like a great program that will yield insight, especially being able to travel with the CEO. Anyone aware of other companies doing this or something simila

Looks like a great program that will yield insight, especially being able to travel with the CEO. Anyone aware of other companies doing this or something similar?

prteja11 4y ago
Amazon.
jason-phillips 4y ago
> Anyone aware of other companies doing this or something similar? Samsung Austin Semiconductor used to have an "eat lunch with the president" program where groups of four or five from each department would each lunch with the president at least once a year. Obviously nowhere near as immersive as this program, but still having the opportunity to ask several off-the-cuff questions like, "Why did Samsung choose Austin?" definitely added value for me.
- georgyo 4y ago
  I have been at several lunches with executives type events at different places. The groups are small so it makes more casual back and forth questions much easier, which is useful. From my perspective, the real value of the lunches was strictly building rapport across the company. At some places high level employees (doesn't necessarily have to be management) often feel unapproachable and they feel more abstract concepts than people. Having lunch with them re-enforces they are also people, people you may even get along with. Other companies I've been at only do Q&A sessions with large groups of employees, and this is still useful, but the format doesn't help the culture. The answers you get are often the company line, and you cannot dig deeper. The people answering the questions are still abstract identities that appear to tout that company line, with no real personality.
- hackernewds 4y ago
  I know of a small-ish company where the exec was seeking to have lunch info sessions. But only with the women's group. It was shady to say the least
  - yakshaving_jgt 4y ago
    That does sound shady, but just to play DA here, there is a strong push in some areas for women to be “included” in leadership. It could be for that reason.
    - leaflets2 4y ago
      Makes me wonder, what was the age difference, ... And was it always only with the women's group? (I'd guess Not so big, and Yes?)
- spaetzleesser 4y ago
  I habe been to several of similar lunches and every time it quickly turned into a long monologue by the executive.
  - leaflets2 4y ago
    What did he/she talk about? (For example, his her past life ... Sports? Politics? Work?)
    - spaetzleesser 4y ago
      The same stuff you can read in any company newsletter.
swyx 4y ago
andy jassy was famously a Bezos shadow before they landed on the idea for AWS (no idea how true this is just repeating what i heard)
chaboud 4y ago
We have TA's at Amazon for L12 (Jassy) and L11 (SVP). However, being a TA also involves active advising and commenting first on document reviews (a lot of executive communication at Amazon is via written documents and review meetings that begin with a doc read). Many of our executives were former TA's.
- ranman 4y ago
  FWIW there's a lot of politics in this process. Existing talent in SEA is far more likely to get selected for these roles rather than offering global top talent a 2 year stint in SEA to see if it fits. The people that receive these TA positions are purposefully selected and groomed for future exec roles. The program does have a good track record of success but they made a few bad bets as well.
  - nixgeek 4y ago
    Elaine isn’t based in Seattle and got picked to be the UC TA (and she isn’t the only TA in the last few years to not be Seattle) so you’re not wrong, but “far more likely” seems a stretch.
- Cederfjard 4y ago
  Stupid question here, what does TA spell out?
  - yakshaving_jgt 4y ago
    I believe it means Technical Assistant.
    - Cederfjard 4y ago
      Thanks! That was my first guess, but a quick search for amazon technical assistant wasn’t very helpful.

Looks like a great program that will yield insight, especially being able to travel with the CEO. Anyone aware of other companies doing this or something similar?

prteja11 4y ago

Amazon.

jason-phillips 4y ago

> Anyone aware of other companies doing this or something similar? Samsung Austin Semiconductor used to have an "eat lunch with the president" program where groups of four or five from each department would each lunch with the president at least once a year. Obviously nowhere near as immersive as this program, but still having the opportunity to ask several off-the-cuff questions like, "Why did Samsung choose Austin?" definitely added value for me.

georgyo 4y ago
I have been at several lunches with executives type events at different places. The groups are small so it makes more casual back and forth questions much easier, which is useful. From my perspective, the real value of the lunches was strictly building rapport across the company. At some places high level employees (doesn't necessarily have to be management) often feel unapproachable and they feel more abstract concepts than people. Having lunch with them re-enforces they are also people, people you may even get along with. Other companies I've been at only do Q&A sessions with large groups of employees, and this is still useful, but the format doesn't help the culture. The answers you get are often the company line, and you cannot dig deeper. The people answering the questions are still abstract identities that appear to tout that company line, with no real personality.
hackernewds 4y ago
I know of a small-ish company where the exec was seeking to have lunch info sessions. But only with the women's group. It was shady to say the least
- yakshaving_jgt 4y ago
  That does sound shady, but just to play DA here, there is a strong push in some areas for women to be “included” in leadership. It could be for that reason.
  - leaflets2 4y ago
    Makes me wonder, what was the age difference, ... And was it always only with the women's group? (I'd guess Not so big, and Yes?)
spaetzleesser 4y ago
I habe been to several of similar lunches and every time it quickly turned into a long monologue by the executive.
- leaflets2 4y ago
  What did he/she talk about? (For example, his her past life ... Sports? Politics? Work?)
  - spaetzleesser 4y ago
    The same stuff you can read in any company newsletter.

swyx 4y ago

andy jassy was famously a Bezos shadow before they landed on the idea for AWS (no idea how true this is just repeating what i heard)

chaboud 4y ago

We have TA's at Amazon for L12 (Jassy) and L11 (SVP). However, being a TA also involves active advising and commenting first on document reviews (a lot of executive communication at Amazon is via written documents and review meetings that begin with a doc read). Many of our executives were former TA's.

ranman 4y ago
FWIW there's a lot of politics in this process. Existing talent in SEA is far more likely to get selected for these roles rather than offering global top talent a 2 year stint in SEA to see if it fits. The people that receive these TA positions are purposefully selected and groomed for future exec roles. The program does have a good track record of success but they made a few bad bets as well.
- nixgeek 4y ago
  Elaine isn’t based in Seattle and got picked to be the UC TA (and she isn’t the only TA in the last few years to not be Seattle) so you’re not wrong, but “far more likely” seems a stretch.
Cederfjard 4y ago
Stupid question here, what does TA spell out?
- yakshaving_jgt 4y ago
  I believe it means Technical Assistant.
  - Cederfjard 4y ago
    Thanks! That was my first guess, but a quick search for amazon technical assistant wasn’t very helpful.