Mark Hurd Has Died • Hacker News Board

Re: Mark Hurd Has Died

#81

Post by sharadov » Fri, Oct 18, 2019, 6:02 PM UTC

hinkley wrote: post #71

VonGuard wrote: post #15

I feel really bad for Hurd and his family. Why work that hard? The 24/7 CEO lifestyle seems like such a waste of time if you end up working it to the day you die. Like, why work that hard? For the family you never see? The vacation home you can visit for 5 days a year? The yacht you leave parked 360 days a year? The job is so demanding and so hard it seems like Mark worked himself to death, literally. He probably cou…

I've had a couple of pretty good bosses over the years. I'm not sure what it says about me but I'm about 50:50 for managers versus developers among the group of people I'd list as mentors. The good ones either could do, or at least verbalize how they wished their bosses would do, some pretty effective delegation by... well... leading. There are ways to communicate the overall picture and the goals of a project so tha…

You are right, its definitely a leadership issue, if you have really hired the right lieutenants and 100% trust them, you don't need to be pulling 70 hr weeks. Unfortunately, most "leaders" never allow that, they love to get involved in every fire - big or small, and I feel, they derive their sense of self-worth from it.

Re: Mark Hurd Has Died

#82

Post by rootusrootus » Fri, Oct 18, 2019, 6:03 PM UTC

todipa wrote: post #30

That's really sad. I've always imagined myself dying in my 80s or 90s after seeing grandchildren become adults. At the age of 62, that cuts all of that out...

I'd like to live a long time, but my dad is in the process of dying right now (he's 86) and it SUCKS. One of my older brothers, on the other hand, dropped dead at 59 from a "widowmaker" heart attack. I think I'd like something like the latter, but a little closer to the former age. What I can say for sure is that in my limited experience, dying of old age is a tedious, undignified, painful affair.

Re: Mark Hurd Has Died

#83

Post by ses1984 » Fri, Oct 18, 2019, 6:03 PM UTC

rootusrootus wrote: post #79

VonGuard wrote: post #15

I feel really bad for Hurd and his family. Why work that hard? The 24/7 CEO lifestyle seems like such a waste of time if you end up working it to the day you die. Like, why work that hard? For the family you never see? The vacation home you can visit for 5 days a year? The yacht you leave parked 360 days a year? The job is so demanding and so hard it seems like Mark worked himself to death, literally. He probably cou…

Some people just really enjoy what they're doing. Friend of mine's dad is pushing 80 and he still puts in 90 hour weeks (he's a company owner, not a regular employee putting in that kind of time). Sounds like hell to me, but he'd be dead in a week if he quit. It's what he lives for. Hasn't been great for his relationship with his kids and ex-wife, but ... I guess it's what makes him tick.

80 years old, 90 hours a week, ok.

Re: Mark Hurd Has Died

#84

Post by sharadov » Fri, Oct 18, 2019, 6:06 PM UTC

VonGuard wrote: post #15

I feel really bad for Hurd and his family. Why work that hard? The 24/7 CEO lifestyle seems like such a waste of time if you end up working it to the day you die. Like, why work that hard? For the family you never see? The vacation home you can visit for 5 days a year? The yacht you leave parked 360 days a year? The job is so demanding and so hard it seems like Mark worked himself to death, literally. He probably cou…

You nailed one thing there about what you are working towards. If it's about saving lives, the betterment of humankind, absolutely that is a selfless cause. But working as a corporate shill, I agree, what are you really gaining?

Re: Mark Hurd Has Died

#85

Post by chrisseaton » Fri, Oct 18, 2019, 6:07 PM UTC

VonGuard wrote: post #15

I feel really bad for Hurd and his family. Why work that hard? The 24/7 CEO lifestyle seems like such a waste of time if you end up working it to the day you die. Like, why work that hard? For the family you never see? The vacation home you can visit for 5 days a year? The yacht you leave parked 360 days a year? The job is so demanding and so hard it seems like Mark worked himself to death, literally. He probably cou…

Who are you to criticise someone else’s choices and what they enjoy? You do what you enjoy. Let them do what they enjoy.

Re: Mark Hurd Has Died

#86

Post by johnpowell » Fri, Oct 18, 2019, 6:07 PM UTC

eigenvalue wrote: post #23

VonGuard wrote: post #15

I feel really bad for Hurd and his family. Why work that hard? The 24/7 CEO lifestyle seems like such a waste of time if you end up working it to the day you die. Like, why work that hard? For the family you never see? The vacation home you can visit for 5 days a year? The yacht you leave parked 360 days a year? The job is so demanding and so hard it seems like Mark worked himself to death, literally. He probably cou…

Without knowing the cause of death, I think it's premature to say that he worked himself to death. It was probably some kind of cancer that probably would have happened anyway. The bigger question I think is, if he could do it over again, would he have tried to spend more of his short time on earth with his family and relaxing/enjoying life rather than working? And even that is not so clear cut-- it may well be that…

Last year I was diagnosed with neck/mouth cancer. I did three months of radiation and chemo and it cleared it up. Then two months later I went in for a PET scan and the cancer had spread to my liver. So more ration for that. Then six months later another PET scan and the cancer popped up in a new place on my liver. I'm currently on Pembrolizumab and my oncologist wants to give that a few months and see how the lesion is reacting.

I will find out in a few weeks. I don't have a good feeling about this. I have accepted that my time might be up. I'm probably looking at another round of more aggressive chemo. I am doing my best to just not think about this.

I have always enjoyed woodworking but never really spent the money on getting a proper woodshop together. But when I was on the tail end of the first round of chemo I got a lot of credit cards and bought tools. Because, fuck it.

So through all this I spend a lot of time down in the woodshop to keep myself busy. I feel like garbage but it keeps my mind occupied. Even if I had Hurd money I wouldn't want to be sitting on beach. Free time to think is my enemy. Free time results in serious bouts of depression. Basketball, and woodworking is how I am spending most of my time. Something, something, idle hands.

Re: Mark Hurd Has Died

#87

Post by wyxuan » Fri, Oct 18, 2019, 6:09 PM UTC

sargram01 wrote: post #17

The article says he was a brilliant leader, anyone know what he did to be a brilliant leader specifically?

Hurd ran sales at oracle, and many people can attest to the brilliant skill of oracle at sales, even if the underlying product wasn't as good as their competitors.

Re: Mark Hurd Has Died

#88

Post by NearAP » Fri, Oct 18, 2019, 6:15 PM UTC

jkcorrea wrote: post #31

Obviously this is very sad news and I wish all the best & my condolences to his family, friends, and colleagues. I'm not very familiar with how Oracle is run, but it surprised me to see "co-CEO". I always assumed this wasn't a great way to run a company, and yet here is a major exception. Can someone enlighten me as to why Oracle chooses to have co-CEOs? Is it something specific to their business?

Actually, for years, Oracle had only 1 CEO (Larry). The CO-CEO thing happened in 2014 when Larry stepped down as CEO.

Larry has been quoted as saying in this year's Oracle Openworld conference - “I believe in a dual-CEO structure. The normal case would be dual CEO here for obvious reasons. That it’s good to have capacity and good to have specialization. And then, God forbid, if something untoward should happen, you have capacity; you are not incapacitated.” [1]

1 - https://techcrunch.com/2019/10/18/former-oracle-co-ceo-mark-...

Re: Mark Hurd Has Died

#89

Post by throwGuardian » Fri, Oct 18, 2019, 6:16 PM UTC

RcouF1uZ4gsC wrote: post #12

> Hurd settled with Fisher, who had once modeled for Playboy magazine, for undisclosed terms. The modeling for Playboy seems like a very gratuitous detail to include and doesn't seem to serve any purpose for the story.

If the press doesn't remind you of all of his irrelevant vices, how will you even know to hate him, just like the writer of the article intended for you to?

Re: Mark Hurd Has Died

#90

Post by blahblah72o » Fri, Oct 18, 2019, 6:20 PM UTC

eigenvalue wrote: post #23

VonGuard wrote: post #15

I feel really bad for Hurd and his family. Why work that hard? The 24/7 CEO lifestyle seems like such a waste of time if you end up working it to the day you die. Like, why work that hard? For the family you never see? The vacation home you can visit for 5 days a year? The yacht you leave parked 360 days a year? The job is so demanding and so hard it seems like Mark worked himself to death, literally. He probably cou…

Without knowing the cause of death, I think it's premature to say that he worked himself to death. It was probably some kind of cancer that probably would have happened anyway. The bigger question I think is, if he could do it over again, would he have tried to spend more of his short time on earth with his family and relaxing/enjoying life rather than working? And even that is not so clear cut-- it may well be that…

It was with 100% certainty cancer. He was wearing a wig at one point. No idea what type, but cancer, 100%. Hard to say it was caused by working too hard.