me
Who wants to be Intel’s new CEO?
11–20 of 111 posts
Re: Who wants to be Intel’s new CEO?
#12I've been reading "Measure What Matters" by John Doerr, which outlines Objectives and Key Results, a concept heavily influenced (invented?) by Andy Grove. Would be interesting to hear from someone who knows if Intel still uses OKRs, and if their long-term usage contributed to the current "toxic culture". I really like OKRs as a concept, just wondering what long-term usage looks like, and what the downsides are. Or ma…
I have found this news interesting to follow because of that book. It was a fun listen, but focusing on success stories seems problematic.
Re: Who wants to be Intel’s new CEO?
#13WTF does "toxic culture" even mean, other than clickbait? Some people seems to use this as meaning "anti-social" or "excessively aggressive" but the word only appears in the article as "toxic fixation on margins" where it's equivalent to "harmful". The gist of the article seems to be that Intel lost in the mobile space because it refused to chase opportunities with lower margins. But decisions regarding such deals ar…
"Toxic" is one of those terms like "problematic" that rely on in-group knowledge to understand. I've often heard it in reference to masculinity; often used by feminists who have a more concrete definition in mind. And, sure you can look at any violent crime stats to see masculinity has its problems, but instead of the more reasonable claim they're making a very nasty one that's indefensible.
Allusions to people being poisonous are particularly destructive. This was very common in the military, if a soldier didn't fit in, he was labeled as something similar to toxic so that others knew not to associate with him. Even then, when the military does it, there's a practical solution: the soldiers get out of the military.
If you claim a larger group is toxic, you have to ask: these are our neighbors, what do we do with them?
> But decisions regarding such deals are made by a small handful of people at the top
Yeah, that really blew the article for me. Something like not-invented-here syndrome is a cultural issue, not bad corporate strategy.
Re: Who wants to be Intel’s new CEO?
#14The term 'toxic culture' is mostly used to describe widespread harassment and bullying. 'Ossified' or 'stagnant' are more apt terms for a company that can't seem to seize new opportunities. The thing about margins is that it's a lot more fun to work in a division with high margins. Low margin businesses are grim, because every cost matters. When you can charge $5000 for the latest Xeon, you can pay high salaries and…
You can't prescribe how language is used. Toxic culture now means this. Changes in usage happen over time.
If you google 'toxic culture', all the top results (other than this article) refer to harassment and bullying rather than slowness to adapt to change. Same with https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toxic_workplace. So a descriptive linguist would agree with me.
Re: Who wants to be Intel’s new CEO?
#15I volunteer myself. I promise to make only the best decisions. Forever.
Re: Who wants to be Intel’s new CEO?
#16The term 'toxic culture' is mostly used to describe widespread harassment and bullying. 'Ossified' or 'stagnant' are more apt terms for a company that can't seem to seize new opportunities. The thing about margins is that it's a lot more fun to work in a division with high margins. Low margin businesses are grim, because every cost matters. When you can charge $5000 for the latest Xeon, you can pay high salaries and…
You can't prescribe how language is used. Toxic culture now means this. Changes in usage happen over time.
I'd add to this that, among the changes that happen to language, there are those that are true, organic, and grass-roots, but also there are those that are forced, manipulative, and agenda-driven. :-)
Re: Who wants to be Intel’s new CEO?
#17Earlier quoted context omitted.
You can't prescribe how language is used. Toxic culture now means this. Changes in usage happen over time.
If you google 'toxic culture', all the top results (other than this article) refer to harassment and bullying rather than slowness to adapt to change. Same with https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toxic_workplace . So a descriptive linguist would agree with me.
Maybe the phrase 'toxic culture' was imprecise and lazy to begin with. Now people are adapting it in a more precise way.
That wiki page was started in 2011 and it's based on a pop-management book. It's hardly an established term.
Re: Who wants to be Intel’s new CEO?
#18I worked at Intel 2005-2007. I read the article hoping to see an independent description of the culture I observed. I hoped to see someone use words to explain something that I can't explain.
The thing about Intel's culture that I observed was that it wasn't toxic at all. The worst thing that I could say about it was that it was boring, which was why I left so quickly.
If anything was "toxic," it could be that some managers and co-workers had very bad people skills... But that happens at all large companies. HR can't witness and guide every interaction between employees. In reality, when I was there, Intel's HR made every effort to create a culture where, if something "toxic" happened, they could fix the situation as quickly as possible.
Granted, things did happen. The "toxic" situations were more of ordinary human nature, and can happen anywhere, even in non work situations.
Re: Who wants to be Intel’s new CEO?
#19Interesting discussion here on the toxic culture reference. As I understand it, especially given the food analogy, Jean Gassee believes that the culture that Intel has evolved over time, prevents them from taking the steps that are necessary to continue to move forward. This culture is 'toxic' in that it is weakening the company rather than strengthening it.
Gassee also makes the point that the culture of the company is more influential on its success or failure than its financial position.
I found his argument fairly persuasive. Of course I worked at Intel during the Andy Grove years and understood that Intel is addicted to the high margins the x86 processors commanded. So when Gassee describes it as a cultural aversion to anything that might impact margins negatively, I can see that as a valid way of looking at it.
Re: Who wants to be Intel’s new CEO?
#20Interesting discussion here on the toxic culture reference. As I understand it, especially given the food analogy, Jean Gassee believes that the culture that Intel has evolved over time, prevents them from taking the steps that are necessary to continue to move forward. This culture is 'toxic' in that it is weakening the company rather than strengthening it. Gassee also makes the point that the culture of the company…
I'm surprised Jean-Louis didn't highlight the similarity between Intel's refusal to focus on mobile and his own push-back on licensing MacOS a decade earlier. Both decisions (cultures) have to do with switching from a high-margin product to a low-margin product, with no guarantee that you'll make up the difference in volume.