Why Silicon Valley has so many Bad Managers
getlighthouse.com
Why Silicon Valley has so many Bad Managers
1–10 of 76 posts
Re: Why Silicon Valley has so many Bad Managers
#2Lighthouse looks like an interesting product, particularly the skip-level insights and 1:1 scheduling.
There is a new type of bad manager taking over, that does all the little things from contemporary management wisdom right, but is adrift as a leader and a bit delusional about the aura of thoughtfulness they project, personal wisdom and ability to mentor. To put it too glibly, it is what happens when one understands the material from Rands and Ask a Manager better than what their company and industry is actually doing.
I would like to see manager assistance software tackle this by guiding the manager by periodically guiding the user through some tough personal questions.
In case it must be said, I am not afflicted with this kind of bad manager; I’m just observing it in other organizations and trying to prevent myself from committing the same overreaction.
Re: Why Silicon Valley has so many Bad Managers
#3It is a hidden ad. It turns out the solution is to hire the author of the blog post.
Re: Why Silicon Valley has so many Bad Managers
#4I met a lot of Jobs copycats.
Most of them failed at one or most of these:
- They could never get a technical co-founder to work with them
- They were wrong about the market
- They were wrong about design
- They didn't have the means to self-finance their businesses (think Pixar and Next)
- They didn't have the connections
What they had was the college drop-out part and some ideas.
Re: Why Silicon Valley has so many Bad Managers
#5Does it really have comparatively bad managers? Are a lack of diversity and prevalence of harassment more common in Silicon Valley than say big pharma, big banking, big investing, or big entertainment?
I am speculating the answer is "no".
Re: Why Silicon Valley has so many Bad Managers
#6There's a lot of great points in the article, though I'm unsure how Silicon Valley's early/mature companies stack against average ones.
Take for instance:
- Are managers at a pizza shop / drywall contractor / design studio better than the average startup?
- Are managers at IBM / GE / JPM better than ones at Facebook / Apple / Google?
At first blush, I'd think that we're actually better correcting for firm age, but I'd love to see the data/research.
Re: Why Silicon Valley has so many Bad Managers
#7In my experience everywhere has bad managers. I’ll volunteer that until I got wise to my own failings and quit being one that I was one of them. It’s a hard job. What we need is for our educational system to incorporate management training from the earliest grades. I’m not talking about books on business or BS like that, but teaching the soft skills that people need to manage other people. Irrespective of the field one goes into, those soft skills can help.
Re: Why Silicon Valley has so many Bad Managers
#8I met a lot of Jobs copycats. Most of them failed at one or most of these: - They could never get a technical co-founder to work with them - They were wrong about the market - They were wrong about design - They didn't have the means to self-finance their businesses (think Pixar and Next) - They didn't have the connections What they had was the college drop-out part and some ideas.
I also have a turtleneck.
Re: Why Silicon Valley has so many Bad Managers
#9I met a lot of Jobs copycats. Most of them failed at one or most of these: - They could never get a technical co-founder to work with them - They were wrong about the market - They were wrong about design - They didn't have the means to self-finance their businesses (think Pixar and Next) - They didn't have the connections What they had was the college drop-out part and some ideas.
Do they also copy the volatile temperament? I've always wondered how important that is to managing creative or groundbreaking teams. I work in architecture, where that temperament is way more common than vision and talent.
Re: Why Silicon Valley has so many Bad Managers
#10Managers are terrible everywhere