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

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

#121

Post by andreilys »

pmiller2 wrote: post #117
andreilys wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you're CEO of a 60k person company, are you going to listen to every single new idea that comes into the head of all your employees?

That depends. Did I tell 60,000 people to come up with new ideas and send them to me? Am I talking on the phone to someone who says they have a new idea? And, after I give that person their 5 minutes (or whatever), does it sound like a marketable product idea?

5 * 60k = 300k minutes (or 200+ days), so it would take you the better half of a year to listen to every single idea.

Typically these things are sold up the management chain which can exercise discretion on which ideas are good and which are not. In this case the Janitor had nothing to lose by going directly to the CEO since I doubt his manager had much clout to sell this up the chain

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

#122

Post by BoorishBears »

ardy42 wrote: post #120
BoorishBears wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Two things I haven't seen anyone mention that seem important: 1. For the villages that have now "made it" economically, there are countless others that haven't, that still live in one-room houses. What about them? 2. I think it's worthwhile pointing out that the product that he created, while popular and financially successful, is still used in the same settings charcoal is. And while carbonized briquettes produce le…

> (Do you get why some people are pushing back on your comment above? You can come up with this kind of stuff for anything. You can't eat an apple today without possibly furthering child labor, our world is too complex to try and turn every feel good story into a dig for downsides, because they will always exist. It is in no way "important" to do suss them out. And it's fine to discuss them, but you don't need to mak…

If you look at half the top comments, they're actually productively talking about how this story exposes flaws in our economic systems (like how outsourcing has affected the odds someone would care enough about an employer to do this)

I'm not saying you can't look at the negatives of stories, far from it, but trying to bring a story to an extremely open-ended negative point is so easy, but adds nothing of value. You could have the conversation separately of the story and lose absolutely nothing, the story is just being used as a springboard then tossed.

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

#123

Post by dcolkitt »

Glench wrote: post #40

Two things I haven't seen anyone mention that seem important: 1. For the one person who has "made it" economically, there are countless others that haven't, that still live in one-room houses. What about them? 2. I think it's worthwhile pointing out that the product that he created, while popular and financially successful, is a junk food that has a significant impact on the health of adults and children worldwide. W…

> For the one person who has "made it" economically, there are countless others that haven't, that still live in one-room houses. What about them?

I think you're overlooking the miracle of capitalism. If it was just about one guy striking it rich, this would be no different than the story of someone winning the lottery or getting a big inheritance from a distant relative.

Instead this is the story of a man who worked hard, studied the market, took risks, and most importantly stayed 100% focused on the mission of delighting the customer. And the result was the creation of a product that improved the lives of millions.

This isn't just the story of Richard Montanez. It's the story of every Korean immigrant who opened a convenience store in an underserved neighborhood. Or the ambitious teen starting a landscaping service. Or the local property taking a gamble to build new housing in a fast growing. Or anyone starting a new restaurant, fashion line, or hotel. Or Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak founding Apple in their garage. Or Henry Ford building a car for the middle-class.

All of those improvements slowly but surely accumulate over time. The fortune Montanez accumulated is incredible. But we know his personal wealth is just the tip of the iceberg. Underneath it is a a vastly greater amount of wealth that was generated in the form of consumer and investor surplus.

Because the reality is that your great-grandparents almost assuredly lived in a one-room house. And you almost assuredly do not. And almost none of us hustled our way out. Instead we just sat back, and enjoyed a constant stream of endlessly improving products- cheaper, faster, higher quality, more abundant. All powered by singularly-minded people relentlessly focused on delighting the customer. And living standards continue to rise, while global poverty continues to march towards zero That's the true miracle of capitalism.

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

#125

Post by smabie »

dvdhnt wrote: post #81
pmoriarty wrote: post #58

This saccharine rags-to-riches, pro-corporate fairy tale makes me so sad and mad, all the more so for the unreflective adulation it has gotten.

[opinion to follow, my own] Even in 2020, while the rich get richer (literally being subsidized by COVID "relief" bills) and the poor are looking to avoid being evicted, the flood of pro-corporate defenders is never ending. It is a true downside to having such a large, albeit fragile middle-class. The fundamental premise of this story is flawed given how most board/c-suite positions are attained and how almost all we…

Most wealth is not inherited, unless you're using some weird definition that you made up.

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

#126

Post by buzzerbetrayed »

pmiller2 wrote: post #104
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…

Well, TIL I'm a fucking hero for being a decent human being who's open to new ideas. See, if the CEO had told him to fuck off, that would have been typical, subhuman behavior by someone who sees another human as beneath him. No, that CEO doesn't get a pat on the back for doing what anyone with an ounce of empathy would do in the same situation, especially because he presumably introduced the "act like an owner" initi…

You are clearly very anti-CEO, despite preaching to "be a decent human". If it was the janitor's boss who made $7/hour that listened to the janitor then you would have no problem patting him on the back. But because it's the CEO that did it you refuse to. Your bias is showing.

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

#127

Post by googlryas »

triceratops wrote: post #106
Ancapistani wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

> I’m not sure I that “Indian” is a “race” for any common definition of the word Does it matter? Is negative stereotyping somehow better when applied to a nationality rather than a "race"?

It only matters if you believe the meanings of words matter. When a woman is attributed negative stereotypes due to her gender in the workplace that disrupts her career, is that "racism"?

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

#129

Post by maxerickson »

kube-system wrote: post #43
scarface74 wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Or alternatively, they've "figured out" how not to hire people unrelated to their core business? What does Frito-Lay have to be gained from engaging in the janitorial business?

They make food! Cleanliness is core to that business, at least at factories.

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

#130

Post by I-M-S »

andreilys wrote: post #121
pmiller2 wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That depends. Did I tell 60,000 people to come up with new ideas and send them to me? Am I talking on the phone to someone who says they have a new idea? And, after I give that person their 5 minutes (or whatever), does it sound like a marketable product idea?

5 * 60k = 300k minutes (or 200+ days), so it would take you the better half of a year to listen to every single idea. Typically these things are sold up the management chain which can exercise discretion on which ideas are good and which are not. In this case the Janitor had nothing to lose by going directly to the CEO since I doubt his manager had much clout to sell this up the chain

Not every employee is going to have an idea. Having established an "idea box" in a 5,000 person company, I'm inclined to say 1 out of a 100 might.
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