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What domain expertise? They’re experts at navigating politics at that level more than anything else. The vast majority of these people are taking board seats. T
by civilitty 3y ago
What domain expertise? They’re experts at navigating politics at that level more than anything else. The vast majority of these people are taking board seats. They don’t even work for the companies full time, let alone apply any of their expertise to AI companies and experimental drone platforms.
They’re there for connections.
- thrill 3y agoWhat do you think the most valuable board members of a large company tend to be well versed in?
- psunavy03 3y agoAre you telling me that people who worked their way up from entry-level to executive and C-suite positions don't have any domain expertise beyond "playing politics?" Every general and flag officer started out as a junior officer or junior enlisted servicemember. There is literally no other way to get there. There are no lateral hires into the military; it's "up or out."
- someguydave 3y agoSure but it has likely been decades since they practiced their speciality. If lockheed were hiring these generals for their technical expertise why put them on the board of directors?
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- psunavy03 3y agoThis is like claiming a law firm's named partners haven't practiced law in decades.
- someguydave 3y agoLaw firms and the military hierarchy are not comparable.
- civilitty 3y agoI’m saying it’d be a lot more plausible an argument if they actually went into roles where some other domain expertise applied. Board members is not one of those roles, especially when they’re joining the boards of companies working on cutting edge tech like AI and drone platforms. Most of these generals also went through the military academies, not ROTC or some other pipeline. They had to convince a member of Congress to recommend them, so yes navigating politics plays heavily into their career from day one. Plenty of other career officers go into consulting or actual leadership roles but the generals named in the article are bought off with these board seats to use their influence over military decision makers, not some other nebulous expertise.