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I didn't love the accountant analog. Part of the problem, aside from measurement, is impact. A great athlete can make outsized impact. And while I'm sure a horr

I didn't love the accountant analog. Part of the problem, aside from measurement, is impact. A great athlete can make outsized impact. And while I'm sure a horrible accountant can make an outsized negative impact, it's unclear to me if a great one can make an outsized positive impact. What would that impact even be? Programmers impact can be felt with rev speed, quality, maintainabilty, performance, etc. It's hard to measure how much one person on a team can affect those things but at least they all matter and are felt, even if difficult to measure. I'd like to know more about elite researchers. Or surgeons. Or oncologists. Or long term value investors. Are there folk in those types of professions who have outcomes who seriously outstrip the top 10% of their peers?

coldtea 12y ago
>didn't love the accountant analog. Part of the problem, aside from measurement, is impact. A great athlete can make outsized impact. And while I'm sure a horrible accountant can make an outsized negative impact, it's unclear to me if a great one can make an outsized positive impact. What would that impact even be? Are you kidding me? A great athlete can do no impact at all. Except if by impact you mean get people to watch him perform. Other that that, it's pure show, nothing productive comes out of sports. A great accountant on the other hand can save his clients millions or billions of dollars through (through tax loopholes for example, avoiding costly mistakes, offering good advice etc).
- svec 12y ago
  A elite athlete can have a very large financial impact on his team. Maybe you consider that financial impact to be less important than an accountant's financial impact on her clients, but I think they can be comparable in $$$ amounts.
- robotresearcher 12y ago
  Real Madrid sold $150M worth of Ronaldo's jersey in around a year. http://metro.co.uk/2010/04/15/cristiano-ronaldo-shirt-sales-have-already-paid-off-80m-fee-to-manchester-united-real-madrid-claim-242129/ http://metro.co.uk/2010/04/15/cristiano-ronaldo-shirt-sales-...

coldtea 12y ago

>didn't love the accountant analog. Part of the problem, aside from measurement, is impact. A great athlete can make outsized impact. And while I'm sure a horrible accountant can make an outsized negative impact, it's unclear to me if a great one can make an outsized positive impact. What would that impact even be? Are you kidding me? A great athlete can do no impact at all. Except if by impact you mean get people to watch him perform. Other that that, it's pure show, nothing productive comes out of sports. A great accountant on the other hand can save his clients millions or billions of dollars through (through tax loopholes for example, avoiding costly mistakes, offering good advice etc).

svec 12y ago
A elite athlete can have a very large financial impact on his team. Maybe you consider that financial impact to be less important than an accountant's financial impact on her clients, but I think they can be comparable in $$$ amounts.
robotresearcher 12y ago
Real Madrid sold $150M worth of Ronaldo's jersey in around a year. http://metro.co.uk/2010/04/15/cristiano-ronaldo-shirt-sales-have-already-paid-off-80m-fee-to-manchester-united-real-madrid-claim-242129/ http://metro.co.uk/2010/04/15/cristiano-ronaldo-shirt-sales-...