4 ms·

The culture at Toshiba was don’t stand out. Just show up put in long hours & do what your superiors want. The storage executives DID NOT WANT a new technology.

The culture at Toshiba was don’t stand out. Just show up put in long hours & do what your superiors want. The storage executives DID NOT WANT a new technology. They were content with spinning disks. Do not rock the boat, put in your 20 years quietly, retire & maybe come back with a get a consulting job there if lucky. The Keiretsu based structure bred complacency & selling average products to each other. As innovation technology in Silicon Valley skyrocketed, Toshiba made slideware & agreements that offered no tangible value. They would talk about the cloud, sign agreements with IBM but have zero real budget for implementation. Instead they would focus on continuing to build and sell non competitive solutions that meant divisions were ordered to keep making non competitive products built by thousands of engineers at a loss. The board cooking the books sealed their fate.

nonbirithm 3y ago
> The culture at Toshiba was don’t stand out. Just show up put in long hours & do what your superiors want. The storage executives DID NOT WANT a new technology. They were content with spinning disks. Do not rock the boat, put in your 20 years quietly, retire & maybe come back with a get a consulting job there if lucky. This sort of culture could explain why Sony still sells $1000 digital Walkmen and luxury Android devices with a headphone jack.
Dalewyn 3y ago
>The culture at Toshiba was don’t stand out. That applies to all of Japan, not just Toshiba. "Nails that stick out will be hammered in." (出る杭は打たれる。)[1] is an age old saying in Japan; those who stand out or are otherwise different from the masses will be forced into compliance. This cultural tradition has stifled many Japanese attempts at innovating, because doing something new is different from the status quo. [1]: https://jisho.org/search/%E5%87%BA%E3%82%8B%E6%9D%AD%E3%81%AF%E6%89%93%E3%81%9F%E3%82%8C%E3%82%8B https://jisho.org/search/%E5%87%BA%E3%82%8B%E6%9D%AD%E3%81%A...

nonbirithm 3y ago

> The culture at Toshiba was don’t stand out. Just show up put in long hours & do what your superiors want. The storage executives DID NOT WANT a new technology. They were content with spinning disks. Do not rock the boat, put in your 20 years quietly, retire & maybe come back with a get a consulting job there if lucky. This sort of culture could explain why Sony still sells $1000 digital Walkmen and luxury Android devices with a headphone jack.

Dalewyn 3y ago

>The culture at Toshiba was don’t stand out. That applies to all of Japan, not just Toshiba. "Nails that stick out will be hammered in." (出る杭は打たれる。)[1] is an age old saying in Japan; those who stand out or are otherwise different from the masses will be forced into compliance. This cultural tradition has stifled many Japanese attempts at innovating, because doing something new is different from the status quo. [1]: https://jisho.org/search/%E5%87%BA%E3%82%8B%E6%9D%AD%E3%81%AF%E6%89%93%E3%81%9F%E3%82%8C%E3%82%8B https://jisho.org/search/%E5%87%BA%E3%82%8B%E6%9D%AD%E3%81%A...