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How a janitor at Frito-Lay invented Flamin' Hot Cheetos (2017)

thehustle.co

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Re: How a janitor at Frito-Lay invented Flamin' Hot Cheetos (2017)

#21

Post by rajacombinator »

bserge wrote: post #16

This is a really nice story, but you know who the other hero is? The CEO who gave him the time and the opportunity. He could've easily told him to fuck off, as many would do. Who was he, what's his name? More often than not, we get nowhere without people in better positions helping us, it would be great if more people would keep an open mind like that. That CEO deserves recognition. And if you manage to climb higher…

Agree it’s an underrated part of the story. A CEO who was able to recognize, reward, and take a chance on someone who showed initiative and potential. A sadly rare ability in the world of CYA management.

Re: How a janitor at Frito-Lay invented Flamin' Hot Cheetos (2017)

#22

Post by nend »

KindOne wrote: post #5

If you don't want to read the twitter thread, you can read this: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20227175 (2019) https://thehustle.co/hot-cheetos-inventor/

Thank you. I can't really think of a worse way to read twitter than a long form story broken up in to 13 separate posts.

Re: How a janitor at Frito-Lay invented Flamin' Hot Cheetos (2017)

#23

Post by [deleted] »

lixtra wrote: post #9
idoh wrote: post #3

What a legend! Janitors are outsourced now, and I wonder if the outsource everything makes the work your way to the top journey a lot harder.

More importantly he had time to learn about the business. How much time does a picker at Amazon have to think about the business ?

[deleted]

Re: How a janitor at Frito-Lay invented Flamin' Hot Cheetos (2017)

#25

Post by Rebelgecko »

KindOne wrote: post #5

If you don't want to read the twitter thread, you can read this: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20227175 (2019) https://thehustle.co/hot-cheetos-inventor/

I actually came to post this. After noticing some weird terminology in the Twitter thread (I've never heard the term "Cucamonga Valley" used to refer to the neighborhood by Ontario International Airport) I found that hustle.co article which has very similar wording. I think the Twitter thread is just a paraphrasing with some jazzed up details

Re: How a janitor at Frito-Lay invented Flamin' Hot Cheetos (2017)

#27

Post by Ancapistani »

mdoms wrote: post #19
oh_sigh wrote: post #11

Why did I know it was going to be an Indian guy telling this story? This one happens to be somewhat true, but frequently they are of the style "and then everyone clapped, and the professor kissed my feet" Does anyone know why these kinds of stories are so popular for Indians? About 20% of Quora is filled with them.

You can probably just keep the casual racism to yourself.

Hold up just a sec here.

I’m not sure I that “Indian” is a “race” for any common definition of the word. It’s a nationality, but my my relatively uninformed perspective it appears that there are many ethnic and cultural groups that comprise it.

More importantly, you seem to be attributing malice to the GP. They are noticing a cultural difference and asking for context. While their choice of phrasing may seem to some of us to be “problematic”, it looks to me that they are asking a reasonable and valid question.

I’ve noticed that these sorts of “feel good”/“just so” stories are very common in Asian cultures. I’ve seen many short movies from Thailand where the downtrodden underdog ends up doing a hugely positive thing and ultimately being appreciated for it. If memory serves, some of them are produced by the state itself.

I have no idea what role they serve in their culture, but it’s different enough from my own to be an interesting phenomenon.

I certainly don’t think asking about it is a bad thing.

Re: How a janitor at Frito-Lay invented Flamin' Hot Cheetos (2017)

#28

Post by scarface74 »

Someone wrote: post #7

Great story, but it can’t happen today. No janitor works for the company whose floors he’s mopping anymore, so janitors wouldn’t get that company-wide email.

It’s amazing that corporate America thinks it can’t hire a at all levels from the custodian to the CEO, but almost every school system and government can figure it out.

Re: How a janitor at Frito-Lay invented Flamin' Hot Cheetos (2017)

#29

Post by scarface74 »

lixtra wrote: post #9
idoh wrote: post #3

What a legend! Janitors are outsourced now, and I wonder if the outsource everything makes the work your way to the top journey a lot harder.

More importantly he had time to learn about the business. How much time does a picker at Amazon have to think about the business ?

At least a picker at Amazon works for the same company as the CEO. Most jobs at that level would be contracted out.

Re: How a janitor at Frito-Lay invented Flamin' Hot Cheetos (2017)

#30

Post by Mulpze15 »

Richard Montañez has all my admiration for what he achieved. This is a beautiful story.

Unfortunately, those kinds of stories also play into the narrative: be a good model employee, make sure the floors shine and trust that hard work, and great ideas will make you deservedly insanely rich. Because there are smart CEOs who will see all of that

Cinderella, capitalist version.

Too rare to be significant as a policy. Most likely does not scale. Too often, dreams are useful to convince people to accept their fate.

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