4 ms·

I used to buy into the MBA mentality. Now I really think MBA / todays managerial wisdom is slowly destroying the world. The business climate in most corporati

I used to buy into the MBA mentality. Now I really think MBA / todays managerial wisdom is slowly destroying the world. The business climate in most corporations is plain awful and most people don't even realize because they don't know what a healthy business environment looks like. It seems that these days that as long as your numbers on your spreadsheet match up, it doesn't matter how you got them to match just as long as they match up somehow. Lying is just one of the many unethical techniques that are now common tools to deliver shareholders "value".

jimboyoungblood 14y ago
it's not just an mba or big company problem. i've seen some outrageous misrepresentations made by startups/founders. not talking about random guys off the street either- these have been funded by well-known VC's and accelerators. as an investor, i've learned to be very wary..
mathattack 14y ago
This isn't about spreadsheet crunching, or even shareholder value. It's about personal incentives - unlimited upside, limited downside, and no concern on the ethics involved.
- yuhong 14y ago
  Yea, the wrong incentives can be worse than no incentives at all.
zerostar07 14y ago
So, time for technology to fix this, right?
- deleted 14y ago
  [deleted]
wdr1 14y ago
"Give a manager a numerical target & he will hit it, even if it means destroying the company."
- wccrawford 14y ago
  Indeed. It's the same with all incentives that don't line up 100% with what you actually want. All the time, I see people surprised that their incentive programs don't get the results they thought and they're surprised that people pervert the system to get their bonus. And then they think they can just make more rules until people do it their way after all. It never works. If you want to incentivize something, you need to be measuring that actual thing and giving incentives for that measurement. If you can't measure it, your incentives are doomed.

jimboyoungblood 14y ago

it's not just an mba or big company problem. i've seen some outrageous misrepresentations made by startups/founders. not talking about random guys off the street either- these have been funded by well-known VC's and accelerators. as an investor, i've learned to be very wary..

mathattack 14y ago

This isn't about spreadsheet crunching, or even shareholder value. It's about personal incentives - unlimited upside, limited downside, and no concern on the ethics involved.

yuhong 14y ago
Yea, the wrong incentives can be worse than no incentives at all.

zerostar07 14y ago

So, time for technology to fix this, right?

deleted 14y ago
[deleted]

wdr1 14y ago

"Give a manager a numerical target & he will hit it, even if it means destroying the company."

wccrawford 14y ago
Indeed. It's the same with all incentives that don't line up 100% with what you actually want. All the time, I see people surprised that their incentive programs don't get the results they thought and they're surprised that people pervert the system to get their bonus. And then they think they can just make more rules until people do it their way after all. It never works. If you want to incentivize something, you need to be measuring that actual thing and giving incentives for that measurement. If you can't measure it, your incentives are doomed.