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Seems appropriate to quote an old HN comment (http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3905794 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3905794): "After the first night

Seems appropriate to quote an old HN comment (http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3905794 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3905794): "After the first night of the 2008 SciFoo conference at Google, @gnat Torkington's twitter stream contained a gem: 'At SciFoo opening session. 300 people standing around networking. Meanwhile, Larry Page is quietly unpacking chairs at the back of the room.' (from memory, not exact)" The CEO (or any leader)'s job is to make sure that whatever needs to be done, gets done. Sometimes, that means unpacking the chairs.

koide 14y ago
I get very upset when junior employees try to keep me from doing the 'dirty work' I'm preparing to do or already doing. I'm not sure where this whole nonsense of "people who lead can't get dirty or do menial work" comes from. If I had something more important to do for sure I would have delegated, but seeing that I didn't, ask why is this particular thing important or, at most, offer help. Don't tell me I shouldn't be doing this! Context: I lead a team of 4. And by 'dirty work' I mean plugging up servers, doing maintenance on them, physical networking stuff, cleaning up debris after an installation, etc.
- alttab 14y ago
  Is it possible that your team wants to demonstrate some level of ownership? Maybe prove to you that they have what it takes? I don't do things because my boss is a vp and is above the work. I do things because I fully own my job and gobble up as much responsibility as I can get.
- deleted 14y ago
  [deleted]
- mbreese 14y ago
  Are you any good at it? Maybe they don't want you to do it for a reason :)
  - ivix 14y ago
    Yes, don't forget that they may be afraid of telling you you're not helping.
    - koide 14y ago
      That's not the case, I'm sure.
blhack 14y ago
I'll share a story an interaction with a company that I worked heavily with while we were launching (this is a startup in a fairly niche, non-technical space. A smallish company with around 200 employees): The "CEO": This guy had a large stake in the company. It was his baby, and while the "CEO" title (which I think gets way over applied) fits him, his official title is "managing partner". While we were in the process of build->launch, he was heavily involved in literally every single department. Not in a micro-managing way, in an "this needs to be done and here, I am going to help" way. It would absolutely not have seemed strange to me, or anybody else, to see him out on a scissor lift with a hammer drill and some cables mounting something to the wall, if that's what was needed. When we did launch, some things went...wrong. The night before we opened, he, as well as some of his friends, not even people employed by us, spent until almost-down doing "grunt" work. Dirty, tedious work moving huge heavy things around, and walking all over the place to get them. That night he slept here (so did I) The months leading up until that launch, and the months following it, he was here until well after dark because a lot of the people who had been hired were "green", and had no idea how to do their job yet. We were all figuring it out as we went. The culture here at that time was addictive (and I wish we could get that feeling back of "making it up as we go". We've got everything pretty well dialed now). People throw the cliche of "we were a family" around pretty liberally, and I'm going to throw it around too. We were a family. We ate together, we drank together, and the "core" group always left together, meaning that nobody left until everybody's work was done. (including the managing partner, who absolutely didn't need to be, and was the one setting the example). This has been an absolutely amazing company to work for. The culture here was, or is amazing. The sad bit is that a lot of the culture that I fell in love with has faded. Yes, we're growing (rapidly! Awesome!), but we've more-or-less all hit our grooves. I know what I'm doing, the "CEO" does to, and there aren't really any scissors lifts or hammer drills left. --- I guess I'll end the story with a question: how do I/we get back to that?
- Mz 14y ago
  how do I/we get back to that? If I am reading this correctly, you currently have around 200 employees and presumably started with less than that. If that is correct, break it up into two separate groups smaller than 150. Any time any part of the company grows beyond about 150 people, repeat. (Read "The tipping point" for longish explanation why. Short version: The typical human brain is designed for a "tribe" size of about 150.)
systems 14y ago
larry is a billionaire, his sense of things is different than ours, money is not an issue anymore for him, or at least not the same type of issue it really piss me off, when we ask an employee who is being paid peanuts to show the same dedication to his work place as the ceo or the owner, and claim this is the ethical thing to do
- ramblerman 14y ago
  Right but the post is about ceo's and their behavior. You're veering into a completely different tangent. Not saying what your saying isn't true, but you might have misunderstood the message, nobody mentioned employees or how they should behave.
- kika 14y ago
  Now imagine that Larry pays this employee a billion to unpack chairs or wash dishes. Would employee take? Definitely. Would he be doing this all the time from now on? I don't know.
thebigshane 14y ago
Another similar story that went around HN a year ago: http://thesash.me/wash-the-dishes-when-nobody-else-will http://thesash.me/wash-the-dishes-when-nobody-else-will and http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2193330 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2193330 The meat of the post (very similar to this article actually): One day, I walked by the kitchen and saw Cary washing the dishes. “Huh” I thought, “The CEO is pitching in. Cool.” I figured it must have been his turn or something, and sort of forgot about it. A week or so passed, and then it happened again. The kitchen became a ginormous mess, and then one day, there’s Cary, washing dishes. Then it happened again, and again. Each time, he’d look up, and nod, then go back to scrubbing dishes. One day, I walked by the kitchen and noticed it was a huge mess. So I washed the dishes. Being the CEO of the company isn’t about power, authority, or glamour, it’s about washing the dishes when nobody else will. Be the CEO of the company. Take responsibility for things that other people ignore. That’s the definition of leadership, and if you make a habit of it, pretty soon you'll be inspiring the people around you to do the same.
faucet 14y ago
No need to network. All those network nodes were already added to the Google's index by Larry's assistant-crawlers.
16s 14y ago
That's a really cool story. He saw something needed to be done, so he did it. That's the kind of person I want to work with.

koide 14y ago

I get very upset when junior employees try to keep me from doing the 'dirty work' I'm preparing to do or already doing. I'm not sure where this whole nonsense of "people who lead can't get dirty or do menial work" comes from. If I had something more important to do for sure I would have delegated, but seeing that I didn't, ask why is this particular thing important or, at most, offer help. Don't tell me I shouldn't be doing this! Context: I lead a team of 4. And by 'dirty work' I mean plugging up servers, doing maintenance on them, physical networking stuff, cleaning up debris after an installation, etc.

alttab 14y ago
Is it possible that your team wants to demonstrate some level of ownership? Maybe prove to you that they have what it takes? I don't do things because my boss is a vp and is above the work. I do things because I fully own my job and gobble up as much responsibility as I can get.
deleted 14y ago
[deleted]
mbreese 14y ago
Are you any good at it? Maybe they don't want you to do it for a reason :)
- ivix 14y ago
  Yes, don't forget that they may be afraid of telling you you're not helping.
  - koide 14y ago
    That's not the case, I'm sure.

blhack 14y ago

I'll share a story an interaction with a company that I worked heavily with while we were launching (this is a startup in a fairly niche, non-technical space. A smallish company with around 200 employees): The "CEO": This guy had a large stake in the company. It was his baby, and while the "CEO" title (which I think gets way over applied) fits him, his official title is "managing partner". While we were in the process of build->launch, he was heavily involved in literally every single department. Not in a micro-managing way, in an "this needs to be done and here, I am going to help" way. It would absolutely not have seemed strange to me, or anybody else, to see him out on a scissor lift with a hammer drill and some cables mounting something to the wall, if that's what was needed. When we did launch, some things went...wrong. The night before we opened, he, as well as some of his friends, not even people employed by us, spent until almost-down doing "grunt" work. Dirty, tedious work moving huge heavy things around, and walking all over the place to get them. That night he slept here (so did I) The months leading up until that launch, and the months following it, he was here until well after dark because a lot of the people who had been hired were "green", and had no idea how to do their job yet. We were all figuring it out as we went. The culture here at that time was addictive (and I wish we could get that feeling back of "making it up as we go". We've got everything pretty well dialed now). People throw the cliche of "we were a family" around pretty liberally, and I'm going to throw it around too. We were a family. We ate together, we drank together, and the "core" group always left together, meaning that nobody left until everybody's work was done. (including the managing partner, who absolutely didn't need to be, and was the one setting the example). This has been an absolutely amazing company to work for. The culture here was, or is amazing. The sad bit is that a lot of the culture that I fell in love with has faded. Yes, we're growing (rapidly! Awesome!), but we've more-or-less all hit our grooves. I know what I'm doing, the "CEO" does to, and there aren't really any scissors lifts or hammer drills left. --- I guess I'll end the story with a question: how do I/we get back to that?

Mz 14y ago
how do I/we get back to that? If I am reading this correctly, you currently have around 200 employees and presumably started with less than that. If that is correct, break it up into two separate groups smaller than 150. Any time any part of the company grows beyond about 150 people, repeat. (Read "The tipping point" for longish explanation why. Short version: The typical human brain is designed for a "tribe" size of about 150.)

systems 14y ago

larry is a billionaire, his sense of things is different than ours, money is not an issue anymore for him, or at least not the same type of issue it really piss me off, when we ask an employee who is being paid peanuts to show the same dedication to his work place as the ceo or the owner, and claim this is the ethical thing to do

ramblerman 14y ago
Right but the post is about ceo's and their behavior. You're veering into a completely different tangent. Not saying what your saying isn't true, but you might have misunderstood the message, nobody mentioned employees or how they should behave.
kika 14y ago
Now imagine that Larry pays this employee a billion to unpack chairs or wash dishes. Would employee take? Definitely. Would he be doing this all the time from now on? I don't know.

thebigshane 14y ago

Another similar story that went around HN a year ago: http://thesash.me/wash-the-dishes-when-nobody-else-will http://thesash.me/wash-the-dishes-when-nobody-else-will and http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2193330 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2193330 The meat of the post (very similar to this article actually): One day, I walked by the kitchen and saw Cary washing the dishes. “Huh” I thought, “The CEO is pitching in. Cool.” I figured it must have been his turn or something, and sort of forgot about it. A week or so passed, and then it happened again. The kitchen became a ginormous mess, and then one day, there’s Cary, washing dishes. Then it happened again, and again. Each time, he’d look up, and nod, then go back to scrubbing dishes. One day, I walked by the kitchen and noticed it was a huge mess. So I washed the dishes. Being the CEO of the company isn’t about power, authority, or glamour, it’s about washing the dishes when nobody else will. Be the CEO of the company. Take responsibility for things that other people ignore. That’s the definition of leadership, and if you make a habit of it, pretty soon you'll be inspiring the people around you to do the same.

faucet 14y ago

No need to network. All those network nodes were already added to the Google's index by Larry's assistant-crawlers.

16s 14y ago

That's a really cool story. He saw something needed to be done, so he did it. That's the kind of person I want to work with.