The annoying habits of highly effective people • Hacker News Board

Re: The annoying habits of highly effective people

#121

Post by CalRobert » Tue, Oct 02, 2018, 9:55 AM UTC

manigandham wrote: post #92

a_imho wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Land a major deal or create a new product line that doubles revenue? You're getting to the top. From my experience this does not happen at all. Not to underclass developers at least.

At all? I don't know what you mean by "underclass" developers but it is common to see many devs who spearhead projects get higher titles and progress faster. There are many such examples just in SV companies. Part of it is making sure contributions are measured and noticed. People can't act on what they don't know.

"it is common to see many devs who spearhead projects get higher titles and progress faster"

True, but if we're going with anecdata I'd point out that it's also common to see devs (and managers) who are taller get higher titles and progress faster too. My own experience is that the correlation is at least as strong as that with getting stuff done.

Re: The annoying habits of highly effective people

#122

Post by manigandham » Tue, Oct 02, 2018, 9:57 AM UTC

CalRobert wrote: post #93

manigandham wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're focused on the actions rather than the results. Common mistake. People become leaders by creating and commanding change that positively affects the company. Land a major deal or create a new product line that doubles revenue? You're getting to the top. Working harder than the others is part of this process, and sometimes that means you come in at 5am, but it's not a requirement nor is it something that anyone…

I remember when I was early in my career and fixed an enormous flaw in ad allocation for a large online publisher. It led to easily over a million extra in revenue that year. My boss was delighted to take credit for it while also ensuring I stayed on message that it wasn't actually a result of him screwing up and being generally incompetent. I eventually figured I had nothing to lose and talked to his boss (politely…

Dishonest people will be a constant obstacle, but communication is also important so others know what your contribution is. There can't be progress without measurement.

Being accurate and quantifiable without becoming confrontational is an art though, but ultimately necessary. Going over people can often lead to worse results. Eventually the truth does come out but whether it's worth the time and effort is up to you.

Re: The annoying habits of highly effective people

#123

Post by Kurtz79 » Tue, Oct 02, 2018, 9:59 AM UTC

sonnyblarney wrote: post #56

jjoonathan wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Same appeal as any other type of cargo-culting: it's a lot easier to get up at 5am, shake hands firmly, and dress for success than it is to spot an extreme growth opportunity, bet everything on it, and be correct.

" it's a lot easier to get up at 5am, shake hands firmly, and dress for success" Let's not be superfluous. Being a CEO is hard, even the 5 am rising and 'hand shaking' parts.

I appreciate that the work is hard, what I cannot come to terms with is the apparent and total lack of accountability of the role (speaking about big-company CEOs).

Yes, a "bad" CEO will be fired, meaning that he will pocket a fat severance package and he will be able to try again in another company with almost no stigma attached.

Even if he did it so badly making himself unhireable for similar positions, he will have already earned more money that most people (even with professional jobs) see in their lifetimes.

"With great power comes great responsibility" seems not to apply to CEOs, more like "the house always wins".

Re: The annoying habits of highly effective people

#124

Post by golergka » Tue, Oct 02, 2018, 10:15 AM UTC

uratool wrote: post #119

data_spy wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I understand what you are saying to a degree, however I've had more success than many colleagues due to me spending time every day to improve myself (usually technically). What you are saying is like saying some people are thin due to genetics, which can be true, but also many people are thin because they workout.

1. how do you know you are not a screaming asshole that other people tolerate, with your inflated sense of self worth about your technical ability being your motivator for demanding more - so you call it success. Have you overcome any longstanding relationship issues with anyone in your life? have you supported someone through a mental breakdown? The very fact that you measure your success "over" your colleagues to m…

If anyone is coming off as an asshole in this thread, it's not him. Some people don't like competition and would like to make a better world for everyone. Some people like are more competitive and like to win over others. It's OK to be either.

Re: The annoying habits of highly effective people

#125

Post by lostlogin » Tue, Oct 02, 2018, 10:18 AM UTC

phakding wrote: post #3

Never understood people's infatuation with reading CEO biographies. I've read a few and never found anything in it that could relate to. May be I am not meant to be one of those people. Even if I worked hard, got in at work at 5 am every day, I don't think I could go from being a lowely team lead to cto or CEO of a multi billion dollar corporation. I don't think it just works that way. I could be very wrong, but that…

> Never understood people's infatuation with reading CEO biographies.

There’s always the biographies of sports people to try I can’t make it though the cover text.

Re: The annoying habits of highly effective people

#126

Post by uratool » Tue, Oct 02, 2018, 10:24 AM UTC

golergka wrote: post #124

uratool wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

1. how do you know you are not a screaming asshole that other people tolerate, with your inflated sense of self worth about your technical ability being your motivator for demanding more - so you call it success. Have you overcome any longstanding relationship issues with anyone in your life? have you supported someone through a mental breakdown? The very fact that you measure your success "over" your colleagues to m…

If anyone is coming off as an asshole in this thread, it's not him. Some people don't like competition and would like to make a better world for everyone. Some people like are more competitive and like to win over others. It's OK to be either.

I don't think that the second one is okay.. I think it is not only harmful to the whole of humanity its also a vacuous existence where your self worth is based on a others without ever actually respecting them.

I know my comment is shitty, but i get depressed that i work in an industry that has its head so far up its own arse that the people who work in it forget that it only has value in helping people do things.

If you are not helping people do things (e.g. you are not making a tool you are trying to sell some pish or something) then you are not a benefit to humanity. and if it was not for the other peopl ebeing off doing things themselves anyway then everything you do would be of no use.

All technical skill is inherently an order of magnitude less valuable as it is a second order skill - this is something that most people in IT really dont want to accept and they cause a lot of hate and pain in the mean time trying to convince everyone else they are right - normally through bully, intimidation and the general lack of empathy that goes hand in hand with all of this.

Re: The annoying habits of highly effective people

#127

Post by tomgp » Tue, Oct 02, 2018, 10:27 AM UTC

sonnyblarney wrote: post #67

enraged_camel wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>>Being a CEO is hard Not necessarily. It completely depends on the company and the industry.

Yeah, some are harder than others but I can't think of a CEO job that isn't hard. It's always fraught with political risk, changing times, etc. etc.. From the 'inside' we might think it looks easy, we get a paycheque, it's all hunky-dory ... but from that top spot it's almost always hard.

How hard is it really though?

If someone said to me: "you can either work in an Amazon warehouse (either shift 7.00am-5.30pm or 5.45pm-4.15am) or be the CEO of Amazon but you're going to get paid the same whichever you choose" I know which I'd do.

Re: The annoying habits of highly effective people

#128

Post by icebraining » Tue, Oct 02, 2018, 10:30 AM UTC

UpshotKnothole wrote: post #46

tomnipotent wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> She grew up rich Exactly - she won the lottery being born into a rich white family in the U.S.

She won more lotteries than that. She won the lottery of being born rich, white, and connected. And in a country like the US. She won the lottery of being beautiful, of having an excellent voice and musical talent, of having parents willing to use their money and power to further her career of choice. She won the lottery of not having any crippling mental illnesses or learning disabilities, of not being sexually assa…

of not being sexually assaulted

Nitpick, but this isn't actually true (see lawsuit she won), and we don't really have any way to know if it was true even before she became famous. I agree with your general point, though.

Re: The annoying habits of highly effective people

#129

Post by jleask » Tue, Oct 02, 2018, 10:30 AM UTC

data_spy wrote: post #116

DecayingOrganic wrote: post #115

"The largely dominant meritocratic paradigm of highly competitive Western cultures is rooted on the belief that success is due mainly, if not exclusively, to personal qualities such as talent, intelligence, skills, smartness, efforts, willfulness, hard work or risk taking. Sometimes, we are willing to admit that a certain degree of luck could also play a role in achieving significant material success. But, as a matte…

I understand what you are saying to a degree, however I've had more success than many colleagues due to me spending time every day to improve myself (usually technically). What you are saying is like saying some people are thin due to genetics, which can be true, but also many people are thin because they workout.

Just as anecdotally, I know many people who have put that work and it has made no difference, or they've been made redundant etc. Equally I know drifters who happened to be in the right place at the right time.

Hard work buys you more tickets in the game of life, but luck is always there to some degree. How much is luck, who knows :)

Re: The annoying habits of highly effective people

#130

Post by albertgoeswoof » Tue, Oct 02, 2018, 10:51 AM UTC

CalRobert wrote: post #93

manigandham wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're focused on the actions rather than the results. Common mistake. People become leaders by creating and commanding change that positively affects the company. Land a major deal or create a new product line that doubles revenue? You're getting to the top. Working harder than the others is part of this process, and sometimes that means you come in at 5am, but it's not a requirement nor is it something that anyone…

I remember when I was early in my career and fixed an enormous flaw in ad allocation for a large online publisher. It led to easily over a million extra in revenue that year. My boss was delighted to take credit for it while also ensuring I stayed on message that it wasn't actually a result of him screwing up and being generally incompetent. I eventually figured I had nothing to lose and talked to his boss (politely…

Did your boss hire you? Did your boss ask you to look at it?