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There are rarely if ever any serious consequences to top execs screwing up wealthy companies. Such execs are usually already so wealthy that they never have to

There are rarely if ever any serious consequences to top execs screwing up wealthy companies. Such execs are usually already so wealthy that they never have to work another day in their life, no matter what happens or how much they screw up. They can always find other prestigious, high paid jobs, and sometimes even get rewarded with huge amounts of money from the very companies they screwed over.

wnolens 4y ago
> sometimes even get rewarded with huge amounts of money from the very companies they screwed over. This is the norm I've witnessed. They're rewarded for making bold bets, whether or not they pay off.
- RestlessMind 4y ago
  Isn't that how things should be in a society? We should encourage people to make bold bets and start real companies like Stripe which offer valuable services. I am happy that they made a bold bet, just like I am happy people start companies when they can easily join an established company and have a comfortable life. Just to be sure, there is a big difference between a bold bet based on your market or product insights vs putting everything on black on the roulette table.
  - wnolens 4y ago
    The reward is the oodles of money you get when you succeed.
- ThrowawayR2 4y ago
  > "They're rewarded for making bold bets, whether or not they pay off." If leaders were rewarded for being conservative instead of making bold bets, Linux and open source would never have taken off, nor would most tech startups.
ericb 4y ago
What did they screw up, though? Their psychic abilities failed? A coin flip came up tails but they bet on heads?
- sharkweek 4y ago
  Yes, essentially. “Do you care to know why I'm in this chair with you all? I mean, why I earn the big bucks? I'm here for one reason and one reason alone. I'm here to guess what the music might do a week, a month, a year from now. That's it. Nothing more. And standing here tonight, I'm afraid that I don't hear - a - thing. Just... silence.” -John Tuld, Margin Call
  - nobleach 4y ago
    Imagine that they DIDN'T hire more people when they grew by 3x. See how much people complain about the grind at AWS. People are extraordinarily overworked. We'd be reading "Why I left Stripe" posts and calling out the CEOs for not scaling up properly.
    - hirsin 4y ago
      Stripe was already known (in my circles at least) for being a ~grinder~ long hours type place. Not neccesarily because they're understaffed but because it was a work work work culture.
      - clpm4j 4y ago
        That's what I've seen (from the outside, with some friends who work at Stripe) as well - it's the old investment banking / management consulting work culture, i.e. your job is your life.
- Barrin92 4y ago
  preparing for an eventual end to the free money rally instead of over-hiring isn't exactly something I'd consider to fall into the realm of psychic abilities. is "we're a fast growing business but this cannot last indefinitely, let's not overexpand" ´really too much to ask for? It's constantly happening to tech companies because of their internal fantasies.
RestlessMind 4y ago
> There are rarely if ever any serious consequences to top execs screwing up wealthy companies. That is because any exec worth her salt would negotiate a generous golden parachute even before starting the job. And why is she able to do that? Because there are very few competent candidates available in the market. If you think the job is easy, just go and get one of those exec positions and you will learn.
- pmoriarty 4y ago
  "Because there are very few competent candidates available in the market" Just because you're hired for one of those positions doesn't mean you're competent.
  - RestlessMind 4y ago
    Yes, but that is not possible to know a priori. So people rely on heuristics. And if things go wrong, execs want to make sure that they have a golden parachute. Do you have an idea to judge exec competence effectively? If so, you can have a very successful company based on that.

wnolens 4y ago

> sometimes even get rewarded with huge amounts of money from the very companies they screwed over. This is the norm I've witnessed. They're rewarded for making bold bets, whether or not they pay off.

RestlessMind 4y ago
Isn't that how things should be in a society? We should encourage people to make bold bets and start real companies like Stripe which offer valuable services. I am happy that they made a bold bet, just like I am happy people start companies when they can easily join an established company and have a comfortable life. Just to be sure, there is a big difference between a bold bet based on your market or product insights vs putting everything on black on the roulette table.
- wnolens 4y ago
  The reward is the oodles of money you get when you succeed.
ThrowawayR2 4y ago
> "They're rewarded for making bold bets, whether or not they pay off." If leaders were rewarded for being conservative instead of making bold bets, Linux and open source would never have taken off, nor would most tech startups.

ericb 4y ago

What did they screw up, though? Their psychic abilities failed? A coin flip came up tails but they bet on heads?

sharkweek 4y ago
Yes, essentially. “Do you care to know why I'm in this chair with you all? I mean, why I earn the big bucks? I'm here for one reason and one reason alone. I'm here to guess what the music might do a week, a month, a year from now. That's it. Nothing more. And standing here tonight, I'm afraid that I don't hear - a - thing. Just... silence.” -John Tuld, Margin Call
- nobleach 4y ago
  Imagine that they DIDN'T hire more people when they grew by 3x. See how much people complain about the grind at AWS. People are extraordinarily overworked. We'd be reading "Why I left Stripe" posts and calling out the CEOs for not scaling up properly.
  - hirsin 4y ago
    Stripe was already known (in my circles at least) for being a ~grinder~ long hours type place. Not neccesarily because they're understaffed but because it was a work work work culture.
    - clpm4j 4y ago
      That's what I've seen (from the outside, with some friends who work at Stripe) as well - it's the old investment banking / management consulting work culture, i.e. your job is your life.
Barrin92 4y ago
preparing for an eventual end to the free money rally instead of over-hiring isn't exactly something I'd consider to fall into the realm of psychic abilities. is "we're a fast growing business but this cannot last indefinitely, let's not overexpand" ´really too much to ask for? It's constantly happening to tech companies because of their internal fantasies.

RestlessMind 4y ago

> There are rarely if ever any serious consequences to top execs screwing up wealthy companies. That is because any exec worth her salt would negotiate a generous golden parachute even before starting the job. And why is she able to do that? Because there are very few competent candidates available in the market. If you think the job is easy, just go and get one of those exec positions and you will learn.

pmoriarty 4y ago
"Because there are very few competent candidates available in the market" Just because you're hired for one of those positions doesn't mean you're competent.
- RestlessMind 4y ago
  Yes, but that is not possible to know a priori. So people rely on heuristics. And if things go wrong, execs want to make sure that they have a golden parachute. Do you have an idea to judge exec competence effectively? If so, you can have a very successful company based on that.