Paul Cormier Replaces Jim Whitehurst as Red Hat CEO • Hacker News Board

Re: Paul Cormier Replaces Jim Whitehurst as Red Hat CEO

#21

Post by dralley » Thu, Apr 09, 2020, 8:14 PM UTC

cachestash wrote: post #20

zapita wrote: post #16

Good for Paul. He has wanted the CEO job forever, and was notoriously bitter about being passed over last time. Don’t expect a revolution in Red Hat’s strategy or culture. Paul was already extremely influential, especially on product and R&D which are not Jim’s strong suits. Things to know about Paul: - He is very competitive and has a zero-sum approach to competition: for him to win, someone else has to lose. - He h…

Agree with this, he is no wall flower. Its harder to meet someone more passionate about Red Hat than Paul.

There is certainly different flavors of "passion", and I'd personally prefer a different one. Oh well.

Re: Paul Cormier Replaces Jim Whitehurst as Red Hat CEO

#22

Post by cachestash » Thu, Apr 09, 2020, 8:15 PM UTC

lowdose wrote: post #18

cpetty wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Correct -- Ginni Rometty was CEO, President, and Chairman of the Board. She remains Chairman, while Arvind Krishna is now CEO and Whitehurst is President. This is the first time in a while that the IBM President & CEO roles have been divided among two different people.

The president title was a thing for people claiming the top spot without being the founder. It doesn't make sense to split CEO & President role between two people, but when the fable is told long enough the people who tell believe it themselves.

Its the co-CEO strategy, or two in box. Its becoming quite popular as of late.

Re: Paul Cormier Replaces Jim Whitehurst as Red Hat CEO

#23

Post by notacoward » Thu, Apr 09, 2020, 8:16 PM UTC

zapita wrote: post #16

Good for Paul. He has wanted the CEO job forever, and was notoriously bitter about being passed over last time. Don’t expect a revolution in Red Hat’s strategy or culture. Paul was already extremely influential, especially on product and R&D which are not Jim’s strong suits. Things to know about Paul: - He is very competitive and has a zero-sum approach to competition: for him to win, someone else has to lose. - He h…

Oh, he's not going to like the phrase "Oracle-style" at all. Another thing people should know about Paul Cormier is that his hatred for Oracle knows no bounds. There's certainly no love lost between the two companies at any level, but even in that context the depth of his loathing for them seemed notable. Some might say excessive. I was there for eight years BTW.

Re: Paul Cormier Replaces Jim Whitehurst as Red Hat CEO

#24

Post by zapita » Thu, Apr 09, 2020, 8:16 PM UTC

Longhanks wrote: post #19

zapita wrote: post #16

Good for Paul. He has wanted the CEO job forever, and was notoriously bitter about being passed over last time. Don’t expect a revolution in Red Hat’s strategy or culture. Paul was already extremely influential, especially on product and R&D which are not Jim’s strong suits. Things to know about Paul: - He is very competitive and has a zero-sum approach to competition: for him to win, someone else has to lose. - He h…

Sounds like a unhealthy place to work at.

Like most large companies, it depends on your team and assignment.

Re: Paul Cormier Replaces Jim Whitehurst as Red Hat CEO

#25

Post by cachestash » Thu, Apr 09, 2020, 8:17 PM UTC

stuff4ben wrote: post #15

MelioRatio wrote: post #4

If anyone wants to find out more on what Cormier wants to focus on over the coming years, he did a small QnA: https://www.redhat.com/en/blog/get-know-red-hat-president-an... It will be interesting to see, how his management style is going to impact Red Hat over the coming years. Considering his background and acumen, I feel like there is going to be a stronger focus on tailored services and specific solutions for org…

A lot of IBM products are in the cloud and the focus from Whitehurst as IBM president is that cloud, containers/K8s/RHOSP, and edge are the big things that will be going on. It will be very interesting to see how RH plays into the broader IBM strategy. Will RH become the platform and IBM becomes tooling, services, and products on top of that platform? Or will RH move to more consultancy and enterprise IT services? Co…

its very possible and widely touted that it could go the other way, in that Red Hat takes over IBM (culturally. Red Hat certainly has a strong enough culture to do that.

Re: Paul Cormier Replaces Jim Whitehurst as Red Hat CEO

#26

Post by zapita » Thu, Apr 09, 2020, 8:19 PM UTC

notacoward wrote: post #23

zapita wrote: post #16

Good for Paul. He has wanted the CEO job forever, and was notoriously bitter about being passed over last time. Don’t expect a revolution in Red Hat’s strategy or culture. Paul was already extremely influential, especially on product and R&D which are not Jim’s strong suits. Things to know about Paul: - He is very competitive and has a zero-sum approach to competition: for him to win, someone else has to lose. - He h…

Oh, he's not going to like the phrase "Oracle-style" at all. Another thing people should know about Paul Cormier is that his hatred for Oracle knows no bounds. There's certainly no love lost between the two companies at any level, but even in that context the depth of his loathing for them seemed notable. Some might say excessive. I was there for eight years BTW.

That is true - the hatred of Oracle runs deep. But when it comes to competitive tactics, they have more in common than the Red Hat marketing brochure would have you believe.

Re: Paul Cormier Replaces Jim Whitehurst as Red Hat CEO

#27

Post by abrowne » Thu, Apr 09, 2020, 8:32 PM UTC

syshum wrote: post #17

brian_herman__ wrote: post #2

Hopefully this will be like when Apple bought Next.

I hope is not like when IBM bought the Weather Company then proceeded to destroy all the good things Weather Underground did

Did anyone from the Weather Company join IBM senior leadership?

Re: Paul Cormier Replaces Jim Whitehurst as Red Hat CEO

#28

Post by _jal » Thu, Apr 09, 2020, 8:39 PM UTC

zapita wrote: post #16

Good for Paul. He has wanted the CEO job forever, and was notoriously bitter about being passed over last time. Don’t expect a revolution in Red Hat’s strategy or culture. Paul was already extremely influential, especially on product and R&D which are not Jim’s strong suits. Things to know about Paul: - He is very competitive and has a zero-sum approach to competition: for him to win, someone else has to lose. - He h…

> He doesn’t shy away from Oracle-style tactics

And that will be the end of RH products in my shop. Fuck that noise, if you treat your customers like adversaries, I won't be one of them.

Re: Paul Cormier Replaces Jim Whitehurst as Red Hat CEO

#29

Post by stingraycharles » Thu, Apr 09, 2020, 8:44 PM UTC

cachestash wrote: post #22

lowdose wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The president title was a thing for people claiming the top spot without being the founder. It doesn't make sense to split CEO & President role between two people, but when the fable is told long enough the people who tell believe it themselves.

Its the co-CEO strategy, or two in box. Its becoming quite popular as of late.

Why is that? I can’t imagine it going well for an extended period of time.

Re: Paul Cormier Replaces Jim Whitehurst as Red Hat CEO

#30

Post by BaronVonSteuben » Thu, Apr 09, 2020, 8:48 PM UTC

zapita wrote: post #16

Good for Paul. He has wanted the CEO job forever, and was notoriously bitter about being passed over last time. Don’t expect a revolution in Red Hat’s strategy or culture. Paul was already extremely influential, especially on product and R&D which are not Jim’s strong suits. Things to know about Paul: - He is very competitive and has a zero-sum approach to competition: for him to win, someone else has to lose. - He h…

As someone who is a big fan of Red Hat, it horrifies me to see the new CEO be described like that. He sounds like one of the worst people for Red Hat. I admit I despise power seekers and people with tempers, so that's coloring my view a lot.

I have always been optimistic about Red Hat's future, but this has me very worried. Red Hat has done so much good in the world, and it would suck to see them shrink or disappear. That said tho, I'd rather they go extinct than become evil. The latter suddenly seems like a possibility. I sure hope I'm wrong.