I recently came across Aswath Damodaran's youtube and I like his characterization of CEOs compatible with company maturity better. A visionary CEO is a wrong fit for a mature, stable-state company.
Peacetime CEO / Wartime CEO (2011)
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Re: Peacetime CEO / Wartime CEO (2011)
#42Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yes its very cringe and only appeals to a certain section of people. At a previous company I worked at, they took this even further, organizing themselves into "squads" (teams) which were part of "platoons" (orgs). Someone that interviewed pointed out that this was pretty aggressive/warlike terminology and wondered why they used it and they didn't really have a good answer.
> certain section of people. Veterans who are used to the terms?
I suspect people who actually went through the military would instantly spot this as ridiculous larping
Re: Peacetime CEO / Wartime CEO (2011)
#43Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yes its very cringe and only appeals to a certain section of people. At a previous company I worked at, they took this even further, organizing themselves into "squads" (teams) which were part of "platoons" (orgs). Someone that interviewed pointed out that this was pretty aggressive/warlike terminology and wondered why they used it and they didn't really have a good answer.
> certain section of people. Veterans who are used to the terms?
I'd guess grown-up mall ninjas who never got closer to serving than TV shows.
Re: Peacetime CEO / Wartime CEO (2011)
#44Companies often seem to employ terms related to armed conflict to heighten the sense of urgency and action. In reality noone working at a software company is "getting their asses shot off" or even "goes to war". Stop using silly terms like that in business. We are not here to murder people or commit genocide, using this vernacular diminishes and marginalizes the immense suffering of humans caught in an actual war for…
The analogy is apt because war is an existential threat for the nation. Similarly, competition is an existential threat to the business. I don’t think this is about war being cool so much as competition in the market place can kill your business just like an invading army can conquer your territory. It’s about then mindset that you should adopt. Do you suppose that it’s ok for a business to let’s it’s competitors tak…
>it’s ok for a business to let’s it’s competitors take its clients and market share?
I wonder when businesses are OK with that? Seems like something you would like to avoid always, not just when "at war" (whatever that means - did someone declare war on you?)
Re: Peacetime CEO / Wartime CEO (2011)
#45Earlier quoted context omitted.
Poking fun at what other people choose to hold important is childish, imo. Because, ultimately what people choose to value is subjective, and there’s no right or wrong. Put another way, what you perceive as valuable is equally hilarious from many others’ valid perspectives. As long as they’re not hurting anyone, people are free to choose their own adventure.
They are not free from criticism of it though. The idea of a “wartime” person is anchored in machismo. It romanticizes, and excuses, really crappy behavior that is long-term destructive. Calling something a “war” is a convenient justification for all sorts of terrible, foolish actions. The “war on drugs” or the “war on cancer” are good examples. Cancer doctors would try to one up each other in how extreme they could…
Agreed, I think it’s useful to discuss whether war framing is an effective tool to create desired outcomes, but that’s beside my point. I’m addressing OP’s implication that it’s ‘hilarious’ to think running a business is worthy of a war-time framing.
Re: Peacetime CEO / Wartime CEO (2011)
#46Reid Hoffman extends this idea in an interesting way by talking about how you need different types of teams depending on what stage the company is at. One team to storm the beach, another team to capture the city, and another team to hold and police the city after.
In both the case of the teams and "wartime" vs "peacetime" leaders I don't think one is better than another, just different skillets for different situations.
Re: Peacetime CEO / Wartime CEO (2011)
#47Earlier quoted context omitted.
This isn't just a Godfather reference?
Yeah, this. It's even quoted in the article. Picking the terminology from mafia movies is more cringeworthy than picking it from analogies to government, of course... the idea that Page needed to step up as "wartime consigliere/CEO" in 2011 because Google was staring down existential threat if it didn't do stuff drastically differently to stave of the threat from social media is also quite funny in hindsight.
It's also funny because Google didn't change one bit since then. Stevey's Google platform rant is every bit as relevant today as it was in 2011 when it was published.
Re: Peacetime CEO / Wartime CEO (2011)
#48Real Wartime CEO's say things like: "Any employee whose home was destroyed by the Russian Army may live in the office for free."
Re: Peacetime CEO / Wartime CEO (2011)
#49Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think Twitter can continue to operate and even be profitable. But without completely adding a new product offering it's hard for me to imagine it growing to be worth a lot more than what Elon paid for it.
> I think Twitter can continue to operate and even be profitable Im curious to hear more on this, in my mind the biggest problem with adding a new product offering would be diluting the text based content which may drive people to more “entertaining / TikTok” content than text content, I think one reason Twitter works as the public square is _because_ text is low effort for celebs/politicians/journalists/etc. Hard to…
I just think there's a limit to how far optimizing the code and cutting costs is going to get him. I heard twitter was making a push to be more worldwide in its reach which could maybe work I guess. As it is though I don't know how much more he can drive usage of this product. I don't have any real product ideas for them myself. But they either need to drive ad revenue or come up with a compelling paid option. Maybe they can build on tweetdeck and make that a premium $$ feature? Maybe they start charging for api access.
Re: Peacetime CEO / Wartime CEO (2011)
#50Earlier quoted context omitted.
I cringe when I see businesses using the vernacular of war to describe really mundane, essentially riskless goals. One company I was at had a "war room" dedicated to... increasing MRR to the arbitrary goals they'd set that quarter. They put a sign on the door. Another CEO told us in an all hands that the company was on a "war footing" until we found product market fit, and he'd use phrases like "total war" all the ti…
Yes its very cringe and only appeals to a certain section of people. At a previous company I worked at, they took this even further, organizing themselves into "squads" (teams) which were part of "platoons" (orgs). Someone that interviewed pointed out that this was pretty aggressive/warlike terminology and wondered why they used it and they didn't really have a good answer.
"Squads" I don't really have a problem with - it's just "team", and is often used in sports outside the US in the same way "team" is here. Technically - it's the full roster from which the team on the field is selected - but meh, close enough.
"Platoon" feels pretty out of place. I'd have trouble not laughing every time I said it.