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>>> This is simply not true. Executive skill is very highly overrated. There is no "magic" these overpaid executives have that uniquely enables them to run larg

>>> This is simply not true. Executive skill is very highly overrated. There is no "magic" these overpaid executives have that uniquely enables them to run large companies. To some degree I agree with you. Some of the most profitable companies I've worked for have very shrewd CEO's. I worked at a bike shop when I was still in college (Eriks Bike Shop). The guy started his business when he was 14. When I worked there, he still only had around 10 stores. One of the smartest things he did was get real estate in smaller areas, off the beaten path and grow his customer base. Once he had a big chunk of the market, he'd close those stores and open a bigger shop right off the highway, near the old store. He also had a very close knit group of people at the top. As far as a I know, it's still just him, the VP of sales, the head IT guy and one other guy. Less than 6 guys effectively now run 22 shops in two states and do multi-millions in sales every year. Erik never went to college, and started this right out of high school. A good example of someone without the groomed skills you're talking about. The other places I've worked, like most of the bigger fortune 500 companies, they usually had Ivy Leaguers who either had PhD's in either business or economics or both. To me, these skills aren't overrated. If you've gone to Yale for 8-10 years and have a PhD in Business Management, then yeah, you have skills which most people will never have. As such, they have certain abilities and insight most other people don't. To me this makes them uniquely qualified to run large businesses. Not just their degree, but also the market and business insight expertise is crucial. Sometimes I don't think you just get that from working in a certain industry for a certain period of time.

stolio 12y ago
Sounds like your bike shop friend as an incredibly rare skill-set to pull that off. Out of a million people how many of them could start a successful chain while still a teenager, even with great luck?
- jsprogrammer 12y ago
  Is there really room for one million people to have a chain store? Who would shop at all of those chains? It's like the pyramid schemers (I mean network marketers) who make claims about how you too can have all that sweet passive income. No, the structure only allows for a small percentage of the overall population to sit at the top, no matter how 'lucky' or 'skilled' an individual is.
  - bsder 12y ago
    > No, the structure only allows for a small percentage of the overall population to sit at the top, no matter how 'lucky' or 'skilled' an individual is. Yes, there is only so much room in these kind of schemes at the top. However, I don't buy this statement that "skill" is not involved as I have seen certain people simply rebuild these kinds of networks over and over. There is a real skill in being able to work a weak, but large social network.
angersock 12y ago
Good stuff, but I'll nitpick on this part: If you've gone to Yale for 8-10 years and have a PhD in Business Management, then yeah, you have skills which most people will never have. As such, they have certain abilities and insight most other people don't. I don't think that this is relevant to their ability as an executive. In the same way, I generally don't see PhDs being good developers or engineers. In some cases it denotes passion, but more and more these advanced degrees seem to only signal a desperation to get a piece of paper and an inability to escape from a fairly exploitative and abusive system.
- notahacker 12y ago
  It's also telling that having spent several years in the world's best business schools in addition to extensive years of management experience, top CEOs are quite happy hiring McKinsey to assign fresh graduates to undertake critical analysis and make recommendations for them. If there are research projects ideally suited to those with exceptional academic pedigree and the CEOs choose to delegate them to commodity smart-kids instead, it's a pretty good indication they're not convinced their academic experience was all that meaningful.

stolio 12y ago

Sounds like your bike shop friend as an incredibly rare skill-set to pull that off. Out of a million people how many of them could start a successful chain while still a teenager, even with great luck?

jsprogrammer 12y ago
Is there really room for one million people to have a chain store? Who would shop at all of those chains? It's like the pyramid schemers (I mean network marketers) who make claims about how you too can have all that sweet passive income. No, the structure only allows for a small percentage of the overall population to sit at the top, no matter how 'lucky' or 'skilled' an individual is.
- bsder 12y ago
  > No, the structure only allows for a small percentage of the overall population to sit at the top, no matter how 'lucky' or 'skilled' an individual is. Yes, there is only so much room in these kind of schemes at the top. However, I don't buy this statement that "skill" is not involved as I have seen certain people simply rebuild these kinds of networks over and over. There is a real skill in being able to work a weak, but large social network.

angersock 12y ago

Good stuff, but I'll nitpick on this part: If you've gone to Yale for 8-10 years and have a PhD in Business Management, then yeah, you have skills which most people will never have. As such, they have certain abilities and insight most other people don't. I don't think that this is relevant to their ability as an executive. In the same way, I generally don't see PhDs being good developers or engineers. In some cases it denotes passion, but more and more these advanced degrees seem to only signal a desperation to get a piece of paper and an inability to escape from a fairly exploitative and abusive system.

notahacker 12y ago
It's also telling that having spent several years in the world's best business schools in addition to extensive years of management experience, top CEOs are quite happy hiring McKinsey to assign fresh graduates to undertake critical analysis and make recommendations for them. If there are research projects ideally suited to those with exceptional academic pedigree and the CEOs choose to delegate them to commodity smart-kids instead, it's a pretty good indication they're not convinced their academic experience was all that meaningful.