4 ms·

"turns out" It turns out that 'leadership' are often just a bunch of clueless 'bullies', as in just the top of a dominance hierarchy. Summoned to the CEO's ho

"turns out" It turns out that 'leadership' are often just a bunch of clueless 'bullies', as in just the top of a dominance hierarchy. Summoned to the CEO's house to discuss the issue, seriously? An obvious attempt to intimidate, imho.

jimbokun 2y ago
So CEOs should not ask their direct reports questions about the work their teams are doing?
- jacknews 2y ago
  "It's the way you tell 'em"
- karaterobot 2y ago
  The weird power move is that he made his direct report to fly out to his home. The article makes it clear this was not optional.
  - jdlshore 2y ago
    You’re making a lot of assumptions. The reality is that I was going to be in that city for other reasons, and the visit to his house—which I appreciated and wanted—was tacked on to that trip, and followed by a party the CEO hosted for everyone else who was also in town.
    - jacknews 2y ago
      even so, was it optional, or no?
    - karaterobot 2y ago
      Well, okay, I'm not going to contradict your personal experience. But here's what you said in your article: > It started half a year ago, in September 2023. My CEO asked me how I was measuring productivity. I told him it wasn’t possible. He told me I was wrong. I took offense. It got heated. > After things cooled off, he invited me to his house to talk things over in person. (We’re a fully remote company, in different parts of the country, so face time takes some arranging.) I knew I couldn’t just blow off the request, so I decided to approach the question from the standpoint of accountability. How could I demonstrate to my CEO that I was being accountable to the org? So what I knew is that you said you didn't want to do something, you had an argument, he asked you to come to his house, which is not in your home town, to talk things over, and you knew you couldn't just blow off the request, and had to demonstrate your accountability to the organization. True or not, can you see how one might draw the conclusion that you were forced to present yourself to the CEO in his house in order to show that you were going to toe the line?
  - QuarterReptile 2y ago
    Maybe I'm assuming levels of high functioning and healthy relationships that are unwarranted, but I read this article totally differently. You're misunderstanding leadership roles, where there's very little 'work-life separation', only 'work-life balance'. You have immense freedom on your calendar, but you also frequently think about work when at home and understand that work can call you back at any hour. Depending on the type of org, you're reasonably likely to spend weekend time at meals or other activities with your coworkers, often with wives and kids along for the ride. Your coworkers are broadly agreeable but, if you had a serious personality clash, you probably wouldn't stick around for that long because such a living situation would become untenable. In this context (and the remote work situation), his house is presumably a nice place for hosting, and 'come to my house to work on it' is the good-boss version of, 'well unfuck yourself and get back to me in a week with an answer, and it better be good.' It's inviting collaboration and focused time, and the CEO's responsible, agreeable coworker (author of the article) accepted that generous offer and made use of it.
    - jdlshore 2y ago
      Yes, that’s exactly right. I appreciated the CEO’s offer and was happy to accept. He added on an offer to take me boating on the lake near his house. The actual meeting waited until a bunch of us were in town for an unrelated meeting, and the offer of boating turned into a party for all employees who were in that town.
- AnimalMuppet 2y ago
  False dichotomy. (And I hate the trope that your comment embodied.) But a CEO probably should know enough to know that certain things are not directly measurable, and should not push their direct reports into trying to directly measure those things. Otherwise the CEO gets meaningless measurements, and then tries to use the meaningless measurements to steer the business.
  - jimbokun 2y ago
    Google among other companies have had great success quantifying things that most other companies assumed were not quantifiable.
    - jacknews 2y ago
      do you have any data supporting that their success derives from quantifying everything, rather than just being in the right place at the right time? anecdotally they seem to have had quite a few failures resulting from 'blind measurement'.
      - jimbokun 2y ago
        Sorry, I stand corrected. All of Google's success is due to luck, and none of it due to the talent and skill of their people or the decisions they made.

jimbokun 2y ago

So CEOs should not ask their direct reports questions about the work their teams are doing?

jacknews 2y ago
"It's the way you tell 'em"
karaterobot 2y ago
The weird power move is that he made his direct report to fly out to his home. The article makes it clear this was not optional.
- jdlshore 2y ago
  You’re making a lot of assumptions. The reality is that I was going to be in that city for other reasons, and the visit to his house—which I appreciated and wanted—was tacked on to that trip, and followed by a party the CEO hosted for everyone else who was also in town.
  - jacknews 2y ago
    even so, was it optional, or no?
  - karaterobot 2y ago
    Well, okay, I'm not going to contradict your personal experience. But here's what you said in your article: > It started half a year ago, in September 2023. My CEO asked me how I was measuring productivity. I told him it wasn’t possible. He told me I was wrong. I took offense. It got heated. > After things cooled off, he invited me to his house to talk things over in person. (We’re a fully remote company, in different parts of the country, so face time takes some arranging.) I knew I couldn’t just blow off the request, so I decided to approach the question from the standpoint of accountability. How could I demonstrate to my CEO that I was being accountable to the org? So what I knew is that you said you didn't want to do something, you had an argument, he asked you to come to his house, which is not in your home town, to talk things over, and you knew you couldn't just blow off the request, and had to demonstrate your accountability to the organization. True or not, can you see how one might draw the conclusion that you were forced to present yourself to the CEO in his house in order to show that you were going to toe the line?
- QuarterReptile 2y ago
  Maybe I'm assuming levels of high functioning and healthy relationships that are unwarranted, but I read this article totally differently. You're misunderstanding leadership roles, where there's very little 'work-life separation', only 'work-life balance'. You have immense freedom on your calendar, but you also frequently think about work when at home and understand that work can call you back at any hour. Depending on the type of org, you're reasonably likely to spend weekend time at meals or other activities with your coworkers, often with wives and kids along for the ride. Your coworkers are broadly agreeable but, if you had a serious personality clash, you probably wouldn't stick around for that long because such a living situation would become untenable. In this context (and the remote work situation), his house is presumably a nice place for hosting, and 'come to my house to work on it' is the good-boss version of, 'well unfuck yourself and get back to me in a week with an answer, and it better be good.' It's inviting collaboration and focused time, and the CEO's responsible, agreeable coworker (author of the article) accepted that generous offer and made use of it.
  - jdlshore 2y ago
    Yes, that’s exactly right. I appreciated the CEO’s offer and was happy to accept. He added on an offer to take me boating on the lake near his house. The actual meeting waited until a bunch of us were in town for an unrelated meeting, and the offer of boating turned into a party for all employees who were in that town.
AnimalMuppet 2y ago
False dichotomy. (And I hate the trope that your comment embodied.) But a CEO probably should know enough to know that certain things are not directly measurable, and should not push their direct reports into trying to directly measure those things. Otherwise the CEO gets meaningless measurements, and then tries to use the meaningless measurements to steer the business.
- jimbokun 2y ago
  Google among other companies have had great success quantifying things that most other companies assumed were not quantifiable.
  - jacknews 2y ago
    do you have any data supporting that their success derives from quantifying everything, rather than just being in the right place at the right time? anecdotally they seem to have had quite a few failures resulting from 'blind measurement'.
    - jimbokun 2y ago
      Sorry, I stand corrected. All of Google's success is due to luck, and none of it due to the talent and skill of their people or the decisions they made.