5 ms·

The actual article notwithstanding, upon reading it two thoughts occured to me: 1. I knew and know plenty of CEOs (some of them were my bosses at some point) a

by ido 4y ago

The actual article notwithstanding, upon reading it two thoughts occured to me: 1. I knew and know plenty of CEOs (some of them were my bosses at some point) and quite a few of them are...Not that impressive? I can think of at least a couple that we (the people under them in the corporate hierarchy) actually thought were idiots 2. As a developer turned founder...Being a CEO is a lot harder than I realized. The part about how not everyone can be an executive - even a bad executive - rings true to my subjective experience. I just don't think "lack of intelligence" is what's preventing a lot of people from being able to perform as executives.

pmoriarty 4y ago
"Being a CEO is a lot harder than I realized" What's so hard about it?
- ido 4y ago
  Handling uncertainty and risk is probably the number 1 challenge. There's a lot of stuff where it can take months/years to really be able to tell if it was the right decision or not (and often even then it's not obvious what was really the cause). Another factor that was mentioned in the article: Even the average manager can't function without a higher-level manager above them. What is it that makes an executive? I don't know, because I'm not a professional in this area. If I had to take a guess, I would call it "functioning without recourse" —living without any level above you to take over if you falter, or even to tell you if you're getting it wrong. To just get it done, even if the problem requires you to do something unusual, without anyone being there to look over your work and pencil in a few corrections.
  - pmoriarty 4y ago
    "living without any level above you to take over if you falter, or even to tell you if you're getting it wrong" It's not like a typical CEO doesn't have teams of advisors and and a whole company, really, to rely on for expertise in whatever they're making a decision about. They also have peers, probably mentors and outside consultants/advisors too. They can read up on the problem, research it, and ask advice.. just like anyone else. Sure, they have to ultimately make the decision (if we exclude the influence of the board), but I really don't get what's so hard about making a decision. Give me a few million dollars and I'll do that all day, no problem.
    - mach1ne 4y ago
      At least psychologically, there is a big difference between having an authority correct you versus having a number of minions each pushing their own opinion on you.
      - pmoriarty 4y ago
        But that's a matter of temperament, not intelligence. Some people just prefer to be given orders, others prefer to give orders. The paycheck is typically much fatter and your prestige much bigger if you're one of the latter types, but that doesn't make you any smarter.
        ido 4y ago
        I explicitly said in my original comment way up thread that I didn’t think intelligence was the defining factor.
    - ido 4y ago
      I honestly thought +/- the same before founding my own company! I suggest you do the same (you don’t need millions of $s) and find out.
    - ido 4y ago
      You seem to think the “typical CEO” is running IBM or Oracle. I’ll bet the “typical CEO” is more like me - running a small business (single to double digit employees total) and paying themselves less than a senior developer would get. I have no teams of advisors and I can ask people for advice but I’m the one who will actually be impacted (possibly life changing impact) by which (often contradictory) advice i choose to take! The hard part is not “making a decision” in that sense, anyone could flip a coin and “make a decision”. It’s living with the stress of constant decision making and you and a bunch of other people having to live with the results of your decisions (which can easily end up costing you and them their jobs).
  - yamtaddle 4y ago
    It's weird to me that this would be a rare thing for people to be able to handle because it's the default for, like, most of adult life except work. But usually you're working with even worse data and feedback in ordinary life, and don't have anyone you can tell to go figure it out for you and report back, like an executive does.
    - ido 4y ago
      Outside of work you’re usually only responsible for yourself and maybe (temporarily) a small number of children (usually shared with one other parent).
      - pmoriarty 4y ago
        Given that so many sociopaths are drawn to positions of power, the fact that so many lives are in their hands probably doesn't concern them one bit.

by ido 4y ago

pmoriarty 4y ago

"Being a CEO is a lot harder than I realized" What's so hard about it?

ido 4y ago
Handling uncertainty and risk is probably the number 1 challenge. There's a lot of stuff where it can take months/years to really be able to tell if it was the right decision or not (and often even then it's not obvious what was really the cause). Another factor that was mentioned in the article: Even the average manager can't function without a higher-level manager above them. What is it that makes an executive? I don't know, because I'm not a professional in this area. If I had to take a guess, I would call it "functioning without recourse" —living without any level above you to take over if you falter, or even to tell you if you're getting it wrong. To just get it done, even if the problem requires you to do something unusual, without anyone being there to look over your work and pencil in a few corrections.
- pmoriarty 4y ago
  "living without any level above you to take over if you falter, or even to tell you if you're getting it wrong" It's not like a typical CEO doesn't have teams of advisors and and a whole company, really, to rely on for expertise in whatever they're making a decision about. They also have peers, probably mentors and outside consultants/advisors too. They can read up on the problem, research it, and ask advice.. just like anyone else. Sure, they have to ultimately make the decision (if we exclude the influence of the board), but I really don't get what's so hard about making a decision. Give me a few million dollars and I'll do that all day, no problem.
  - mach1ne 4y ago
    At least psychologically, there is a big difference between having an authority correct you versus having a number of minions each pushing their own opinion on you.
    - pmoriarty 4y ago
      But that's a matter of temperament, not intelligence. Some people just prefer to be given orders, others prefer to give orders. The paycheck is typically much fatter and your prestige much bigger if you're one of the latter types, but that doesn't make you any smarter.
      - ido 4y ago
        I explicitly said in my original comment way up thread that I didn’t think intelligence was the defining factor.
  - ido 4y ago
    I honestly thought +/- the same before founding my own company! I suggest you do the same (you don’t need millions of $s) and find out.
  - ido 4y ago
    You seem to think the “typical CEO” is running IBM or Oracle. I’ll bet the “typical CEO” is more like me - running a small business (single to double digit employees total) and paying themselves less than a senior developer would get. I have no teams of advisors and I can ask people for advice but I’m the one who will actually be impacted (possibly life changing impact) by which (often contradictory) advice i choose to take! The hard part is not “making a decision” in that sense, anyone could flip a coin and “make a decision”. It’s living with the stress of constant decision making and you and a bunch of other people having to live with the results of your decisions (which can easily end up costing you and them their jobs).
- yamtaddle 4y ago
  It's weird to me that this would be a rare thing for people to be able to handle because it's the default for, like, most of adult life except work. But usually you're working with even worse data and feedback in ordinary life, and don't have anyone you can tell to go figure it out for you and report back, like an executive does.
  - ido 4y ago
    Outside of work you’re usually only responsible for yourself and maybe (temporarily) a small number of children (usually shared with one other parent).
    - pmoriarty 4y ago
      Given that so many sociopaths are drawn to positions of power, the fact that so many lives are in their hands probably doesn't concern them one bit.