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It's somewhat amazing how far, in 2014, people can get without any tech expertise at all. It's not just Obama and other prominent politicians. There are countle

It's somewhat amazing how far, in 2014, people can get without any tech expertise at all. It's not just Obama and other prominent politicians. There are countless incredibly successful business people that are lucky to turn on a computer. When I was barely out of high school, I briefly consulted for a guy that had built a net worth in excess of $100 million from scratch with a very successful chain of auto body shops. I was first introduced to him after his son told me that a few days prior, his father's computer came up with a message box saying that a program had "performed an illegal operation". He yanked the power cord out of the wall and began contemplating what he would say to the police when they came. Last year, Steve Wynn, billionaire casino mogul, was accused of threatening the life of Girls Gone Wild founder Joe Francis via email over a $2 million gambling debt. Steve won a defamation lawsuit, with his primary argument being that he couldn't possibly have done it because he had never sent an email in his life. While technology is an integral part of our world, the most crucial skill for leaders isn't being able to code or necessarily even operate it. It's being able to identify what needs to be done, then building and managing teams that can get things done. If you can do that, you can accomplish almost anything.

Thriptic 12y ago
> It's somewhat amazing how far, in 2014, people can get without any tech expertise at all. It's not just Obama and other prominent politicians. There are countless incredibly successful business people that are lucky to turn on a computer. I know of a CEO of a major American company that has his secretary print out all of his hundreds of daily emails and manually sort them for him. He then dictates his replies into a dictaphone and has her type them out.
- daveslash 12y ago
  Someone recently told me the exact same story about a company at which they used to be employed. They didn't tell me the name of the company, but they referred to it as a "financial institution".
  - Thriptic 12y ago
    Interesting. The individual I am referring to oversees a pharmaceutical company.
    - bch 12y ago
      Oh ya, not financial institution, but pharmaceutical company. And the first letter in their name is in the front half of the alphabet..? edit s/pharmacy/pharmaceutical/ edit2: this is a joke. I don't know who this is, am trolling
      - arthurcolle 12y ago
        AstraZeneca?
  - 001sky 12y ago
    This is more common than you think.
- azernik 12y ago
  Just to one-up - there was a major security breach in the IDF (as close as Israel has to a Snowden) because a general also wanted to read is reports on paper. So he allowed his assistant to put classified documents on CDs and take them over to an unsecured printing machine, where she proceeded to stash every single one and carried them off the base when her service was over.
- clarkm 12y ago
  I think Donald Knuth does something similar.
  - grayclhn 12y ago
    Knuth doesn't reply to 100s of emails a day, though.
  - moron4hire 12y ago
    I think his is a matter of choice, though.
vegedor 12y ago
How is that amazing? They could do this before the advent of computers and they have secretaries to actually use the computers for anything more involved.
LeoPanthera 12y ago
> It's somewhat amazing how far, in 2014, people can get without any tech expertise at all. There's a huge difference between "no tech expertise" and "never written a computer program".
kyro 12y ago
It's not amazing. Technology has never been a prerequisite to business success and it certainly isn't one today. Does technical literacy help? Absolutely. But it's by no means necessary, and I'd say the majority of industries today don't require any of it. All you really need is an ability to build relationships and have something valuable to offer. If you've got those two down, you can very easily put yourself in a place where you can hire someone else to take care of the tech stuff. I know doctors, real estate agents, lawyers, consultants, and a few successful CEOs who are very averse to using anything tech, and they're all raking it in just fine.

Thriptic 12y ago

> It's somewhat amazing how far, in 2014, people can get without any tech expertise at all. It's not just Obama and other prominent politicians. There are countless incredibly successful business people that are lucky to turn on a computer. I know of a CEO of a major American company that has his secretary print out all of his hundreds of daily emails and manually sort them for him. He then dictates his replies into a dictaphone and has her type them out.

daveslash 12y ago
Someone recently told me the exact same story about a company at which they used to be employed. They didn't tell me the name of the company, but they referred to it as a "financial institution".
- Thriptic 12y ago
  Interesting. The individual I am referring to oversees a pharmaceutical company.
  - bch 12y ago
    Oh ya, not financial institution, but pharmaceutical company. And the first letter in their name is in the front half of the alphabet..? edit s/pharmacy/pharmaceutical/ edit2: this is a joke. I don't know who this is, am trolling
    - arthurcolle 12y ago
      AstraZeneca?
- 001sky 12y ago
  This is more common than you think.
azernik 12y ago
Just to one-up - there was a major security breach in the IDF (as close as Israel has to a Snowden) because a general also wanted to read is reports on paper. So he allowed his assistant to put classified documents on CDs and take them over to an unsecured printing machine, where she proceeded to stash every single one and carried them off the base when her service was over.
clarkm 12y ago
I think Donald Knuth does something similar.
- grayclhn 12y ago
  Knuth doesn't reply to 100s of emails a day, though.
- moron4hire 12y ago
  I think his is a matter of choice, though.

vegedor 12y ago

How is that amazing? They could do this before the advent of computers and they have secretaries to actually use the computers for anything more involved.

LeoPanthera 12y ago

> It's somewhat amazing how far, in 2014, people can get without any tech expertise at all. There's a huge difference between "no tech expertise" and "never written a computer program".

kyro 12y ago

It's not amazing. Technology has never been a prerequisite to business success and it certainly isn't one today. Does technical literacy help? Absolutely. But it's by no means necessary, and I'd say the majority of industries today don't require any of it. All you really need is an ability to build relationships and have something valuable to offer. If you've got those two down, you can very easily put yourself in a place where you can hire someone else to take care of the tech stuff. I know doctors, real estate agents, lawyers, consultants, and a few successful CEOs who are very averse to using anything tech, and they're all raking it in just fine.