Mark Zuckerberg: The evolution of a remarkable CEO
venturebeat.com
Mark Zuckerberg: The evolution of a remarkable CEO
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Re: Mark Zuckerberg: The evolution of a remarkable CEO
#2"That’s reflected by Zuckerberg’s efforts to motivate each person according to what gets them excited: For engineers, that means giving them the best product to build, but for business executives, it means big financial incentives."
Do engineers just need interesting technical problems to remain happy? If the engineers were motivated by big financial incentives, would they get them?
Re: Mark Zuckerberg: The evolution of a remarkable CEO
#3After all the negative press constantly surrounding Zuckerberg, it's refreshing to hear something positive for once. And, as always, it's inspiring to see evidence that tech founders can potentially be great CEOs.
I think the real value of this article is the info on Facebook's internal policies, though. Ranking people based on relative performance? Relentlessly replacing lack-luster employees? A focus on providing individual incentives? Sounds like a really good (though scary) environment for ensuring that people do their best work.
It's well-known that big companies are much less efficient than their smaller counterparts, but this seems like a step in the right direction for closing that gap.
Re: Mark Zuckerberg: The evolution of a remarkable CEO
#4"That’s reflected by Zuckerberg’s efforts to motivate each person according to what gets them excited: For engineers, that means giving them the best product to build, but for business executives, it means big financial incentives." Do engineers just need interesting technical problems to remain happy? If the engineers were motivated by big financial incentives, would they get them?
That's a pretty good question. Speaking as an engineer, I would like to have FU money. But the reason I want FU money is so that I can always work on interesting technical problems instead of all the little crap that is also necessary in day-to-day work.
Re: Mark Zuckerberg: The evolution of a remarkable CEO
#5"That’s reflected by Zuckerberg’s efforts to motivate each person according to what gets them excited: For engineers, that means giving them the best product to build, but for business executives, it means big financial incentives." Do engineers just need interesting technical problems to remain happy? If the engineers were motivated by big financial incentives, would they get them?
Given that Zuck is their first engineer and largest shareholder, I'd say yes.
The point wasn't that you don't have to pay engineers well -- just that technical challenges are a good way to inspire the right people. (Business people might be inspired by the chance to make big deals, but not so much by the chance to make difficult deals).
It's also harder to measure the positive financial effects of smart engineering. If somebody saves a million dollars worth of hardware through some clever optimization, that's easy to calculate; if they reduce the time it takes to display a photo by 10%, that's important, but harder to calculate.
Re: Mark Zuckerberg: The evolution of a remarkable CEO
#6"That’s reflected by Zuckerberg’s efforts to motivate each person according to what gets them excited: For engineers, that means giving them the best product to build, but for business executives, it means big financial incentives." Do engineers just need interesting technical problems to remain happy? If the engineers were motivated by big financial incentives, would they get them?
I'm starting to feel like I won't make what I want, until I'm paying myself. If the owner of the company paid you 100% of the value (which is hard to measure) then he wouldn't have a interest in hiring you... (nothing left for him)
Re: Mark Zuckerberg: The evolution of a remarkable CEO
#7"That’s reflected by Zuckerberg’s efforts to motivate each person according to what gets them excited: For engineers, that means giving them the best product to build, but for business executives, it means big financial incentives." Do engineers just need interesting technical problems to remain happy? If the engineers were motivated by big financial incentives, would they get them?
That's a pretty good question. Speaking as an engineer, I would like to have FU money. But the reason I want FU money is so that I can always work on interesting technical problems instead of all the little crap that is also necessary in day-to-day work.
Which is why most engineers are not CEO material. A CEO is someone who wants to provide vision, direction and leadership to a company long after the FU money is in the bank.
Re: Mark Zuckerberg: The evolution of a remarkable CEO
#8Earlier quoted context omitted.
That's a pretty good question. Speaking as an engineer, I would like to have FU money. But the reason I want FU money is so that I can always work on interesting technical problems instead of all the little crap that is also necessary in day-to-day work.
Which is why most engineers are not CEO material. A CEO is someone who wants to provide vision, direction and leadership to a company long after the FU money is in the bank.
Arguably as a CEO, you get a new set of interesting problems the moment you solve your last set of interesting problems.
Re: Mark Zuckerberg: The evolution of a remarkable CEO
#9After all the negative press constantly surrounding Zuckerberg, it's refreshing to hear something positive for once. And, as always, it's inspiring to see evidence that tech founders can potentially be great CEOs. I think the real value of this article is the info on Facebook's internal policies, though. Ranking people based on relative performance? Relentlessly replacing lack-luster employees? A focus on providing i…
sounds like a slave driver environment, if you ask me. It can't be good for morale, having people rotate through the company every month.
Re: Mark Zuckerberg: The evolution of a remarkable CEO
#10I saw Mark at the FB kitchen, when I was interviewing there back in 2007. I was being given a tour of the place, and was going to get some water.
He was talking to some people, and I guess he noticed I recognized him, and just rolled his eyes.
WTF, I didn't even talk to the guy or say anything. What a prick. Maybe he has matured some.