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It is the nature of the role of CEO that you're going to take the heat for all company decisions. That's one of the justifications for their outsized compensati

It is the nature of the role of CEO that you're going to take the heat for all company decisions. That's one of the justifications for their outsized compensation. Greater risk = greater reward. No one is forced to be CEO and being an executive essentially means you live your life on the line every day. It's not for everyone. There was another thread on this earlier today and I think my comment there is applicable here too... -- Yishan seems to love to do stuff like this. While I personally find it interesting, it also seems pretty unprofessional. Some issues with this particular comment: 1. Yishan no longer works at Reddit so I don't think he can be considered an authoritative source for what happened. 2. Yishan appointed Pao so isn't unbiased when discussing her. 3. The CEO's job is to represent the company. The chairman's job is to appoint the CEO. The outcome of events seems correct even if what Yishan says is true. reply

PhasmaFelis 11y ago
> It is the nature of the role of CEO that you're going to take the heat for all company decisions. That's one of the justifications for their outsized compensation. Greater risk = greater reward. No one is forced to be CEO and being an executive essentially means you live your life on the line every day. It's not for everyone. I rather doubt that Ellen Pao's job description included "Dive under the bus to cover up bad decisions of coworkers too cowardly to own them." Stop making excuses for assholes.
- exstudent2 11y ago
  We don't actually know if that's what happened, this is based on a potentially disgruntled opinion of a former CEO. Secondly, "Dive under the bus to cover up bad decisions of coworkers too cowardly to own them." is almost the precise definition of what the CEO role is. You represent the whole company for better or worse. You are the face of the company.
  - Avenger42 11y ago
    Why wouldn't it be "fire employees whose bad decisions are reflecting badly on the company, even if those employees are also on the board of directors"?
    - exstudent2 11y ago
      That's certainly one of their tasks. Pao didn't execute on that though.
  - jsprogrammer 11y ago
    Isn't the Chief Executive Officer's job to ensure that the company actually performs its mission? I'd actually assume that the CEO's role varies significantly from company to company. Where are you getting such precise definitions from?
    - exstudent2 11y ago
      > Isn't the Chief Executive Officer's job to ensure that the company actually performs its mission? Yes it is, although sometimes the COO plays a large part in internally managing that. I'm not sure how Reddit is structured. The CEO being the face of the company is always part of the job though.
      - jsprogrammer 11y ago
        Where are you getting such precise definitions from?
  - deleted 11y ago
    [deleted]

PhasmaFelis 11y ago

> It is the nature of the role of CEO that you're going to take the heat for all company decisions. That's one of the justifications for their outsized compensation. Greater risk = greater reward. No one is forced to be CEO and being an executive essentially means you live your life on the line every day. It's not for everyone. I rather doubt that Ellen Pao's job description included "Dive under the bus to cover up bad decisions of coworkers too cowardly to own them." Stop making excuses for assholes.

exstudent2 11y ago
We don't actually know if that's what happened, this is based on a potentially disgruntled opinion of a former CEO. Secondly, "Dive under the bus to cover up bad decisions of coworkers too cowardly to own them." is almost the precise definition of what the CEO role is. You represent the whole company for better or worse. You are the face of the company.
- Avenger42 11y ago
  Why wouldn't it be "fire employees whose bad decisions are reflecting badly on the company, even if those employees are also on the board of directors"?
  - exstudent2 11y ago
    That's certainly one of their tasks. Pao didn't execute on that though.
- jsprogrammer 11y ago
  Isn't the Chief Executive Officer's job to ensure that the company actually performs its mission? I'd actually assume that the CEO's role varies significantly from company to company. Where are you getting such precise definitions from?
  - exstudent2 11y ago
    > Isn't the Chief Executive Officer's job to ensure that the company actually performs its mission? Yes it is, although sometimes the COO plays a large part in internally managing that. I'm not sure how Reddit is structured. The CEO being the face of the company is always part of the job though.
    - jsprogrammer 11y ago
      Where are you getting such precise definitions from?
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]