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It seems to flow both ways. Management gets burned out dealing with people who just don't care, and they end up not caring about the people they manage. 6 year
by muzani 4y ago
It seems to flow both ways. Management gets burned out dealing with people who just don't care, and they end up not caring about the people they manage.
6 years ago, a COO once told me, "Employees are donkeys. You use a carrot and stick. If they weren't donkeys they'd be running their own business."
It seemed like such stuck up, pretentious 'advice' at the time that I ran far away from that social group. But parent comment made it click - people act like donkeys for a reason. And your comment made that click too, once the whole group acts like donkeys, they're treated like one.
- apohn 4y ago>6 years ago, a COO once told me, "Employees are donkeys. You use a carrot and stick. If they weren't donkeys they'd be running their own business." A COO is an Employee too. Therefore he is a Donkey as well :)
- MacsHeadroom 4y agoA COO is an "officer-employee", distinct from a regular unqualified "employee."
- apohn 4y agoSo you are saying a COO is an officer-Donkey? :) But to go back to the parent post, what the COO said "If they weren't donkeys they'd be running their own business." Maybe some COOs run small businesses they started where they call the all shots. But most big company COOs have a lot of obligations and have a different carrot and stick for the C-Suite. And a lot of them didn't start the business where they became the COO. So, yes, still Donkeys.
- AdamN 4y agoThe COO never said they weren't a donkey
- muzani 4y agoFor context, it was a talk on HR policies. He retired at 40 after investing in real estate, then went back to work running companies, but was no longer solely motivated by compensation or the threat of being fired. He did call managers "donkeys with sticks", though. Just because they manage, as long as their motivation is solely tied to compensation, they're still no better.
- beckingz 4y agoIt's donkeys all the way down.
- strix_varius 4y ago> It seemed like such stuck up, pretentious 'advice' at the time Because it is pretentious and stuck-up. Any non-trivial endeavor requires humans working together as a group to achieve it. Reducing the humanity of the group you're working with to "donkeys" is horrifying, and the best executives are the ones who understand - and respect - their people.
- hirvi74 4y agoIf I weren't a donkey, then I wouldn't even be working in the first place let alone running a business.
- sys_64738 4y ago> 6 years ago, a COO once told me, "Employees are donkeys. You use a carrot and stick. If they weren't donkeys they'd be running their own business." I don't want to run my own business because I want to be able to drift along and switch off after work. If I did run my own business then it would be better than anybody with this attitude.