A janitor at Frito-Lay invented Flamin’ Hot Cheetos (2017) • Hacker News Board

Re: A janitor at Frito-Lay invented Flamin’ Hot Cheetos (2017)

#281

Post by bzudo » Thu, Jun 20, 2019, 4:50 AM UTC

BurningFrog wrote: post #257

opportune wrote: post #166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Class diversity is pretty hard to achieve because you usually need some baseline class to actually be able to succeed in a role, i.e. you can't show up to a meeting with customers or shareholders chewing dip and wearing camo jorts. And social mobility from lower classes into corporate-ready roles is rather low in this country, so while there certainly are people who grew up poor and would be useful for companies to f…

Here's the real divider: Viewpoint diversity. Are you ready to have some conservatives/Republicans on your team?

Viewpoint diversity? Republican/conservative seems to be the default state in most corporations.

Re: A janitor at Frito-Lay invented Flamin’ Hot Cheetos (2017)

#282

Post by neotek » Thu, Jun 20, 2019, 4:52 AM UTC

mindcrime wrote: post #226

thundergolfer wrote: post #207

Earlier quoted context omitted.

thehustle.co as a publication is catered to young 'hustlers' who very much buy into the capitalist American Dream. This is a hype-article for the 'anyone can make it' myth, a myth that fuels culture of overworked young people[1] struggling against structural changes they're told to ignore. [1]. https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/02/religion-w...

thehustle.co as a publication is catered to young 'hustlers' who very much buy into the capitalist American Dream. Good. We need more of this kind of thing around here, and less negativity and the "luck is everything, effort is irrelevant, sit on your ass and wait for the government to fix all your problems" bullshit that we've been overrun with lately. This is a hype-article for the 'anyone can make it' myth There's…

>Good. We need more of this kind of thing around here, and less negativity and the "luck is everything, effort is irrelevant, sit on your ass and wait for the government to fix all your problems" bullshit that we've been overrun with lately.

What a thoroughly disingenuous strawman.

Re: A janitor at Frito-Lay invented Flamin’ Hot Cheetos (2017)

#283

Post by dnautics » Thu, Jun 20, 2019, 4:53 AM UTC

_wldu wrote: post #238

arkades wrote: post #187

This article ends right before the actual interesting part begins. Janitor takes some food his company produces, adds spices, makes a shitty pitch deck and profit? Cool, but... this could have easily happened in a dozen different configurations and gone nowhere. This is more luck than anything else. The interesting story begins after that. This guy didn't end his career there - so, presumably, he was't a one-hit wond…

The point is that the CEO was open minded (he took a phone call from a janitor... and actually listened to him and then gave him a chance). He saw past this mans lack of education and experience and focused on his dedication and enthusiasm. There's value in everyone, everywhere (even the lowest employees). We need leaders who can put ego aside and see that. IMO, that was the point of the story. The subsequent success…

According to the article by "ask a mexican" (can't find it atm) but at the time frito lay had an active "solicit business ideas from all levels of the company" program, and they really meant it (some companies do not when they do these sorts of things)

Re: A janitor at Frito-Lay invented Flamin’ Hot Cheetos (2017)

#284

Post by netsharc » Thu, Jun 20, 2019, 4:57 AM UTC

quickthrower2 wrote: post #180

starpilot wrote: post #123

My takeaway: there are huge potential markets in people who are not like me. The execs were probably completely unaware of this market, and it took an outsider to hold their hand and bring it to them. I love flaming hot cheetos and know tons of people who do, but there is no way I would have thought of taking the hot pepper / other spices from a traditional Mexican food (elotes, which I had in LA) and adapting them i…

What, adding chili to a food? I reckon the monoculture cohort you talk of could have come up with that.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egg_of_Columbus

Re: A janitor at Frito-Lay invented Flamin’ Hot Cheetos (2017)

#285

Post by clairity » Thu, Jun 20, 2019, 5:03 AM UTC

wutbrodo wrote: post #228

clairity wrote: post #168

Earlier quoted context omitted.

it’s good to hear that you recognize your privilege. now what will you do with it? self discipline (class-based, in your description) is something foucault explored quite a bit.

Uh, pretty much my entire comment was about how I recognized my privilege as a child and spent pretty much my whole life deciding to push back against it. Appreciate the condescension though.

sorry, it was simply a question, not a criticism.

Re: A janitor at Frito-Lay invented Flamin’ Hot Cheetos (2017)

#286

Post by trappist » Thu, Jun 20, 2019, 5:17 AM UTC

Theodores wrote: post #174

rootedbox wrote: post #9

Frito Lay was a great place to work at because they did promote up, and they also hired the best. I would often be in meetings where one logistics manager went to MIT and the other logistics manager would be someone who started at a plant boxing chips.

His wife was playing the role of co-founder. She believed in him and helped him make the MVP. Kudos to the guy for the initiative, but we are wrong to assume the janitor is in a weak and powerless position. You can work in a factory where you don't see any of the building apart from the walk to your station and the walk to the tea room. You just do your shift operating a machine. The janitor isn't so intensively over…

Flamin' Hot Cheetos are junk food that millions of people love. In America rags to riches stories tend to involve someone who found a way to make the lives of others - many others - just a little better than they would otherwise have been. Teaching dozens or hundreds of students another language is great. Feeding millions of people a food they choose, for whatever reason, over whatever else they could have bought with that money or eaten for that snack, is a big deal.

Re: A janitor at Frito-Lay invented Flamin’ Hot Cheetos (2017)

#287

Post by PostOnce » Thu, Jun 20, 2019, 5:27 AM UTC

nashashmi wrote: post #242

_wldu wrote: post #238

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The point is that the CEO was open minded (he took a phone call from a janitor... and actually listened to him and then gave him a chance). He saw past this mans lack of education and experience and focused on his dedication and enthusiasm. There's value in everyone, everywhere (even the lowest employees). We need leaders who can put ego aside and see that. IMO, that was the point of the story. The subsequent success…

Everyone gets a chance when they are young. I know lots of people who beared with me when they should not have.

You got a chance, people should get a chance, but it's not true that everyone does get a chance. Some people are just dealt a bad hand and get no lucky breaks, and have no path to leave mediocrity despite their effort.

I think people are downvoting because they disagree with you and not explaining why.

Re: A janitor at Frito-Lay invented Flamin’ Hot Cheetos (2017)

#288

Post by quickthrower2 » Thu, Jun 20, 2019, 5:28 AM UTC

netsharc wrote: post #284

quickthrower2 wrote: post #180

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What, adding chili to a food? I reckon the monoculture cohort you talk of could have come up with that.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egg_of_Columbus

Making something hotter is the food equivalent of "Uber for" in the startup world.

Re: A janitor at Frito-Lay invented Flamin’ Hot Cheetos (2017)

#289

Post by triangleman » Thu, Jun 20, 2019, 5:35 AM UTC

jackvalentine wrote: post #265

_wldu wrote: post #238

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The point is that the CEO was open minded (he took a phone call from a janitor... and actually listened to him and then gave him a chance). He saw past this mans lack of education and experience and focused on his dedication and enthusiasm. There's value in everyone, everywhere (even the lowest employees). We need leaders who can put ego aside and see that. IMO, that was the point of the story. The subsequent success…

My takeaway was that not only was a janitor directly employed by the company (as cleaning services are basically 100% outsourced in my experience now) but was paid well and felt part of the company such that he was motivated to stay interested and contribute.

Yes that is quite the anachronism these days.

Re: A janitor at Frito-Lay invented Flamin’ Hot Cheetos (2017)

#290

Post by scarejunba » Thu, Jun 20, 2019, 5:47 AM UTC

RomanBob wrote: post #267

_wldu wrote: post #238

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The point is that the CEO was open minded (he took a phone call from a janitor... and actually listened to him and then gave him a chance). He saw past this mans lack of education and experience and focused on his dedication and enthusiasm. There's value in everyone, everywhere (even the lowest employees). We need leaders who can put ego aside and see that. IMO, that was the point of the story. The subsequent success…

>even the lowest employees Why is the janitor considered "the lowest employee" by you?

Amusing aside: once I was talking to this engineer on the phone and he was talking about driver development and I, in an attempt to relate, remarked that that sounds rather hard and that it's been a while since I wrote low-level software like that.

Somehow that came across as insulting what he did as of low skill level. Oops! Awful faux pas. I think I managed to clarify but I've decided to use less ambiguous words next time ("close to the metal", for instance).