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You're not the CEO - You're the Fucking Janitor

zachbruhnke.com

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Re: You're not the CEO - You're the Fucking Janitor

#71

Post by kika »

systems wrote: post #27
michael_nielsen wrote: post #2

Seems appropriate to quote an old HN comment ( http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3905794 ): "After the first night of the 2008 SciFoo conference at Google, @gnat Torkington's twitter stream contained a gem: 'At SciFoo opening session. 300 people standing around networking. Meanwhile, Larry Page is quietly unpacking chairs at the back of the room.' (from memory, not exact)" The CEO (or any leader)'s job is to make s…

larry is a billionaire, his sense of things is different than ours, money is not an issue anymore for him, or at least not the same type of issue it really piss me off, when we ask an employee who is being paid peanuts to show the same dedication to his work place as the ceo or the owner, and claim this is the ethical thing to do

Now imagine that Larry pays this employee a billion to unpack chairs or wash dishes. Would employee take? Definitely. Would he be doing this all the time from now on? I don't know.

Re: You're not the CEO - You're the Fucking Janitor

#72

Post by gyardley »

smiler wrote: post #26

Seriously, does anyone take anyone seriously who calls themselves CEO, CTO or CFO of a 5 man company? How about owner or founder. Maybe it's a cultural thing but here in the UK we'd definitely laugh at someone calling themselves that unless it was a company of a considerable size.

Yes, some people do, which is why as the owner / founder / 'CXO' you should use whatever title's best for the situation you happen to be in at that moment.

Re: You're not the CEO - You're the Fucking Janitor

#74

Post by SkyMarshal »

chernevik wrote: post #65
kevinalexbrown wrote: post #64

"In reality, there is, perhaps, no one of our natural passions so hard to subdue as pride. Disguise it, struggle with it, beat it down, stifle it, mortify it as much as one pleases, it is still alive, and will every now and then peep out and show itself; you will see it, perhaps, often in this history; for, even if I could conceive that I had completely overcome it, I should probably be proud of my humility. " Benjam…

[From a senior devil, instructing a junior in the temptation of a human:] "Your patient has become humble; have you drawn his attention to the fact? All virtues are less formidable to us once the man is aware that he has them, but this is specially true of humility. Catch him at the moment when he is really poor in spirit and smuggle into his mind the gratifying reflection, 'By jove! I'm being humble', and almost imm…

Reminds me of the end of The Devil's Advocate, conveniently available on Youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGXvj2BjZLA

Re: You're not the CEO - You're the Fucking Janitor

#76

Post by DiabloD3 »

batgaijin wrote: post #47
unimpressive wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Edit:I'm an idiot and wrote an argument to something you didn't say, but I'll leave it here cause it took me 5 minutes to write on the phone keyboard. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunk_costs#Loss_aversion_and_th... EDIT: In other words, it's even more idiotic to leave it here after you've determined it was a mu post.

Hey I'm happy to live in a world of honest assholes.

Yeah, its the dishonest ones that fuck it up for everyone else.

Re: You're not the CEO - You're the Fucking Janitor

#77

Post by g-garron »

when I started my company (telecom supplier). I was the CEO (company of 5 at that time). I was also the sales guy, and very often the technician who was installing what was sold.

If you really want to succeed you really need to do anything, once your company grows, you will have other people doing those tasks for you. Not because it is not good for you to do them, simply because you will have no time anymore.

As an engineer, I still miss installing what we sell now a days.

Re: You're not the CEO - You're the Fucking Janitor

#80

Post by AznHisoka »

blhack wrote: post #25
michael_nielsen wrote: post #2

Seems appropriate to quote an old HN comment ( http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3905794 ): "After the first night of the 2008 SciFoo conference at Google, @gnat Torkington's twitter stream contained a gem: 'At SciFoo opening session. 300 people standing around networking. Meanwhile, Larry Page is quietly unpacking chairs at the back of the room.' (from memory, not exact)" The CEO (or any leader)'s job is to make s…

I'll share a story an interaction with a company that I worked heavily with while we were launching (this is a startup in a fairly niche, non-technical space. A smallish company with around 200 employees): The "CEO": This guy had a large stake in the company. It was his baby, and while the "CEO" title (which I think gets way over applied) fits him, his official title is "managing partner". While we were in the proces…

Reminds me of "Beyond Civilization" by Daniel Quinn. In the end, most of us just want to join the circus.

We want to be a part of something special, where everyone is working towards a common goal. We join the circus to be a part of something, not to get something from it.

What's the modern day version of a circus (the old-fashioned type, not the commercialized circus)?

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