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> An engineer CEO is going to value different things than a non-engineer CEO. And why exactly ?

by maeln 3y ago

fragmede 3y ago
this hypothetical engineer-CEO is going to put a lot more stock in what the engineers are saying, so even if it'll cost a lot of money, reducing profits, the engineer-ceo is going to say we're not not launch until the engineers say it is good to go. The MBA CEO is going to say the engineers are stupid, they don't know the whole picture, they're going to bankrupt the company, and we're going to launch anyway.
- PH95VuimJjqBqy 3y ago
  you're being hyperbolic, but the underlying idea is correct. The thing is, most everyone understood what I meant, this other person is just trying to play ignorant.
  - maeln 3y ago
    No, I am just putting into question this seemingly undeniable claim that someone who happen to have been an engineer in their career would somehow end up being a more engineer focused CEO. This naively would make sense, but does it actually have any factual weight ? There is so many counter argument to this. Becoming a CEO, from an engineering start, usually involve spending a lot of your career in higher management. At this point, why would you be more sensible to the engineer issues, than the higher management/board/owner ? Climbing the ladder also require at some point to satisfy the requirement of non-engineer, shifting you own goal if what you aim is to be at the top of the ladder. Having an engineer past doesn't guarantee at all that you will listen to engineer more once you have climb the ladder. People just want to continue to create this weird tension between engineer and business people, both trying to act as if they are much better than the other at handling a company, when in actuality, it is the collaboration of both which is successful, and some of the best company manage to harness exactly this.
    - PH95VuimJjqBqy 3y ago
      > People just want to continue to create this weird tension between engineer and business people because there _is_ tension between business and technical people. a business person can walk into a room and through charm and sheer force of will get what they want. No amount of charm will ever find and fix that bug. It's a fundamentally different approach to the world, hence why they clash so often and why an engineer turned CEO is going to act vastly different than business person turned CEO. and just as clearly, what a CEO values matters or they wouldn't be paid so much because they could be replaced by anyone otherwise.

> An engineer CEO is going to value different things than a non-engineer CEO. And why exactly ?

by maeln 3y ago

> An engineer CEO is going to value different things than a non-engineer CEO. And why exactly ?

this hypothetical engineer-CEO is going to put a lot more stock in what the engineers are saying, so even if it'll cost a lot of money, reducing profits, the engineer-ceo is going to say we're not not launch until the engineers say it is good to go. The MBA CEO is going to say the engineers are stupid, they don't know the whole picture, they're going to bankrupt the company, and we're going to launch anyway.

PH95VuimJjqBqy 3y ago
you're being hyperbolic, but the underlying idea is correct. The thing is, most everyone understood what I meant, this other person is just trying to play ignorant.
- maeln 3y ago
  No, I am just putting into question this seemingly undeniable claim that someone who happen to have been an engineer in their career would somehow end up being a more engineer focused CEO. This naively would make sense, but does it actually have any factual weight ? There is so many counter argument to this. Becoming a CEO, from an engineering start, usually involve spending a lot of your career in higher management. At this point, why would you be more sensible to the engineer issues, than the higher management/board/owner ? Climbing the ladder also require at some point to satisfy the requirement of non-engineer, shifting you own goal if what you aim is to be at the top of the ladder. Having an engineer past doesn't guarantee at all that you will listen to engineer more once you have climb the ladder. People just want to continue to create this weird tension between engineer and business people, both trying to act as if they are much better than the other at handling a company, when in actuality, it is the collaboration of both which is successful, and some of the best company manage to harness exactly this.
  - PH95VuimJjqBqy 3y ago
    > People just want to continue to create this weird tension between engineer and business people because there _is_ tension between business and technical people. a business person can walk into a room and through charm and sheer force of will get what they want. No amount of charm will ever find and fix that bug. It's a fundamentally different approach to the world, hence why they clash so often and why an engineer turned CEO is going to act vastly different than business person turned CEO. and just as clearly, what a CEO values matters or they wouldn't be paid so much because they could be replaced by anyone otherwise.