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A follow up to Coinbase being a mission focused company

blog.coinbase.com

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Re: A follow up to Coinbase being a mission focused company

#601

Post by luckylion »

tshaddox wrote: post #384
knorker wrote: post #282

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> (Almost) everything is political. Only in a world where words have no meaning.

What meaning are you using then? Even the most basic dictionary definition of "politics" is something like "all the activities involved in determining the policies and actions of an organization or government."

If everything is political, including building a table ("because people can sit at a table") or breathing ("it's literally a life and death situation"), then "it's political" has no useful meaning. If a descriptive term doesn't serve as a means of distinguishing things, it's not a descriptive term.

Re: A follow up to Coinbase being a mission focused company

#602

Post by luckylion »

thescriptkiddie wrote: post #392
redm wrote: post #82

I feel like this is the start of a rising tide. I think Brian's stance is great, companies have missions, they should focus on those missions. Everything has become so political that your work, which occupies a large portion of your life, should not be divisive.

Personally I would like it if the workplace became a whole lot more political, seeing as the status quo is that you have no say in how the company is ran or what it does with its profits, and if you don't like it you can starve. Ignoring politics doesn't make it not exist.

But that's a trivial thing to accomplish: create a company and you have all the say in how the company is ran and what it does with its profits.

Re: A follow up to Coinbase being a mission focused company

#603

Post by yokaze »

mola wrote: post #575
notSupplied wrote: post #488

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I certainly agree that the mission of a company can (and preferably) be more than just for profit. However, "to be political" is still a pretty wide range of possible missions. Who calls the shots about what you're going to be political about, and which side you take? And when a group of employees disagree with the shots being called, what kinds of reactions are appropriate or not? I'll take a shot: - I think compell…

Companies that have a mission "to change the world" attract employees on the basis of activisism in the world. Heck this company is trying to overhaul the entire monetary system. If succeeded this will effect the lives of billions of people. Recruiting people with this premise, and then telling them actually, you don't have any say in what the company actually does, and the ways it changes the world, that actually it…

> I never believed the whole "change the world" SV nonsense, and always knew it was nothing more than cynical marketing.

It certainly is.

But I like to believe, there is an underlying reasonable philosophy behind it. Every company tries to make a difference, that is its value proposition. If your value proposition has a negative social impact, it is not a sustainable business model. Legislation will eventually render your business untenable. (Even if it takes centuries or decades like tobacco, or fossil fuel).

So, considering your social impact makes business sense.

To quote Paul Drucker:

"Responsibility for social impacts is a management responsibility — not because it is a social responsibility, but because it is a business responsibility. The ideal is to make elimination of such an impact into a business opportunity. But wherever that cannot be done, the design of the appropriate regulation with the optimal trade-off balance—and public discussion of the problem and promotion of the best regulatory solution — is management’s job."

Re: A follow up to Coinbase being a mission focused company

#604

Post by m463 »

christophilus wrote: post #427
PragmaticPulp wrote: post #10

For reference, the severance package was 4 months of salary for employees with =3 years of tenure at Coinbase. The severance also included 6 months of health insurance. (Source: https://www.coindesk.com/coinbase-severance-apolitical-missi... ) What percentage of employees at Coinbase are actively interviewing for other jobs at any given time? 5%? If someone has one foot out the door already, taking a bonus equivalent…

I think you underestimate how many people are fed up with overly politicized workplaces. I’ve quit a couple of jobs due to it. I’d definitely stay somewhere where I can just work without having to listen to unrelated BS constantly, even if it meant passing on a sweet severance package.

I hate both kinds of office politics. I like being productive and they get in the way.

Re: A follow up to Coinbase being a mission focused company

#605

Post by [deleted] »

mola wrote: post #575
notSupplied wrote: post #488

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I certainly agree that the mission of a company can (and preferably) be more than just for profit. However, "to be political" is still a pretty wide range of possible missions. Who calls the shots about what you're going to be political about, and which side you take? And when a group of employees disagree with the shots being called, what kinds of reactions are appropriate or not? I'll take a shot: - I think compell…

Companies that have a mission "to change the world" attract employees on the basis of activisism in the world. Heck this company is trying to overhaul the entire monetary system. If succeeded this will effect the lives of billions of people. Recruiting people with this premise, and then telling them actually, you don't have any say in what the company actually does, and the ways it changes the world, that actually it…

[deleted]

Re: A follow up to Coinbase being a mission focused company

#606

Post by luckylion »

nefitty wrote: post #536
staticautomatic wrote: post #520

Earlier quoted context omitted.

An acquaintance of mine worked for a company that stocked tampons in the men’s restroom because someone lobbied for it despite the company having no female->male trans employees. My acquaintance, who is male->female trans, was baffled.

Doesn’t that just mean providing equal facilities? If you put hand sanitizer in one bathroom, you should try to provide it in all of them.

Should we test men for ovarian cancer to provide equal medical services?

Re: A follow up to Coinbase being a mission focused company

#607

Post by rorykoehler »

mola wrote: post #575
notSupplied wrote: post #488

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I certainly agree that the mission of a company can (and preferably) be more than just for profit. However, "to be political" is still a pretty wide range of possible missions. Who calls the shots about what you're going to be political about, and which side you take? And when a group of employees disagree with the shots being called, what kinds of reactions are appropriate or not? I'll take a shot: - I think compell…

Companies that have a mission "to change the world" attract employees on the basis of activisism in the world. Heck this company is trying to overhaul the entire monetary system. If succeeded this will effect the lives of billions of people. Recruiting people with this premise, and then telling them actually, you don't have any say in what the company actually does, and the ways it changes the world, that actually it…

They never said "make the world better" only "change the world". This wasn't a mistake.

Re: A follow up to Coinbase being a mission focused company

#608

Post by scottlocklin »

tshaddox wrote: post #385
scottlocklin wrote: post #363

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Everything is political" is literally the working definition of totalitarianism.

Certainly not, because the question of whether a government ought to be involved in some interaction is, clearly, a political question, and asking that question is clearly not equivalent to saying that the government ought to be involved in all interactions.

>and asking that question is clearly not equivalent to saying that the government ought to be involved in all interactions.

Yes, actually it absolutely is. Putting everything up for grabs for state (or in modern day; the mob) control is literally totalitarianism. People who "don't understand" this are either abysmally stupid or are power mad imbeciles who are pretending not to understand for Machiavellian reasons.

Re: A follow up to Coinbase being a mission focused company

#610

Post by rocqua »

yokaze wrote: post #574
titanomachy wrote: post #336

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the relevant distinction that Brian makes is not "political vs not-political" but "relevant or not relevant to the business". It seems they are comfortable engaging on political issues that are directly related to what they are doing. For example, affirmative action is arguably a political topic, but it would be on the table for discussion at Coinbase because it's relevant to how they hire.

With that, I can more easily agree. I am then not sure how it devolved (in my opinion) into being "apolitical". I definitely see the point of keeping a company focused on its task, though probably we have then the same discussion with different terms.

Not, as a company, taking a stance on Trump v Biden would probably be an example of being apolitical.
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