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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

#11

Post by orthecreedence »

zbruhnke wrote: post #9
coderdude wrote: post #8

It's important to remember that the CEO/founder role is where the buck stops. You're ultimately responsible for every mistake and fixing it. He's right that it's not glamorous. I think that if you're a sole founder you figure this out pretty quickly though. And as a rule of thumb: Always ignore Silicon Valley hype. By the way: writing words in ALL CAPS, italicizing lots of things , and saying 'fucking' a lot made it…

Thanks for the feedback. I typically italicize and bold things in an effort to break up the black/white monotony of my site but I'll keep the advice in mind and maybe go back and make some edits. As for the 'fucking' I agree, it was actually pretty hard to write too. I grew up in a middle class family in the South most of whom would be appalled by the way this post was written(the language) but I thought it put some…

Don't change it. People on here have weak stomachs. I like a bit of strong writing once in a while, especially after having to sift through all the "I'm a CEO too lol" garbage that makes it to the front page. It's not out of place here.

I completely share your view on this one. I'm not a CEO (CTO, heh) but leaders do what it takes. While ego can have its place in business, being the CEO of a shitty little startup is nothing to brag about. Once you're making millions a year in profit, then I think you're allowed to let it get to your head (although the best ones don't).

I think the best leaders in the world recognize that being a leader is just another job. It doesn't make you better than anybody else, and it's not an excuse to look down on people, whether they're willing to learn from you or not.

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

#12

Post by dllthomas »

zbruhnke wrote: post #9
coderdude wrote: post #8

It's important to remember that the CEO/founder role is where the buck stops. You're ultimately responsible for every mistake and fixing it. He's right that it's not glamorous. I think that if you're a sole founder you figure this out pretty quickly though. And as a rule of thumb: Always ignore Silicon Valley hype. By the way: writing words in ALL CAPS, italicizing lots of things , and saying 'fucking' a lot made it…

Thanks for the feedback. I typically italicize and bold things in an effort to break up the black/white monotony of my site but I'll keep the advice in mind and maybe go back and make some edits. As for the 'fucking' I agree, it was actually pretty hard to write too. I grew up in a middle class family in the South most of whom would be appalled by the way this post was written(the language) but I thought it put some…

I actually appreciate the breaking up of monotony with italics/bold when done well. You didn't do it poorly, but it could probably be toned down a bit.

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

#13

Post by unimpressive »

zbruhnke wrote: post #9
coderdude wrote: post #8

It's important to remember that the CEO/founder role is where the buck stops. You're ultimately responsible for every mistake and fixing it. He's right that it's not glamorous. I think that if you're a sole founder you figure this out pretty quickly though. And as a rule of thumb: Always ignore Silicon Valley hype. By the way: writing words in ALL CAPS, italicizing lots of things , and saying 'fucking' a lot made it…

Thanks for the feedback. I typically italicize and bold things in an effort to break up the black/white monotony of my site but I'll keep the advice in mind and maybe go back and make some edits. As for the 'fucking' I agree, it was actually pretty hard to write too. I grew up in a middle class family in the South most of whom would be appalled by the way this post was written(the language) but I thought it put some…

The 'fucking' in the title is most of the reason I read and upvoted it.* It's a reality check, such things are never polite. And I got tired of seeing the "I'm CEO, Bitch." style posts just as much as you did.

*(In this context of course. Swearing in the title isn't enough to get me to click; but that message sure as heck is.)

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

#14

Post by rickdale »

I work with a small pharmacy that only has 5-6 employees. Every time I go there to meet with the owner hes on his hands and knees vacuuming or cleaning something. The last time I saw him there he was calking a chair back together. His exact words were, "Back to basics."

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

#15

Post by nollidge »

zbruhnke wrote: post #9
coderdude wrote: post #8

It's important to remember that the CEO/founder role is where the buck stops. You're ultimately responsible for every mistake and fixing it. He's right that it's not glamorous. I think that if you're a sole founder you figure this out pretty quickly though. And as a rule of thumb: Always ignore Silicon Valley hype. By the way: writing words in ALL CAPS, italicizing lots of things , and saying 'fucking' a lot made it…

Thanks for the feedback. I typically italicize and bold things in an effort to break up the black/white monotony of my site but I'll keep the advice in mind and maybe go back and make some edits. As for the 'fucking' I agree, it was actually pretty hard to write too. I grew up in a middle class family in the South most of whom would be appalled by the way this post was written(the language) but I thought it put some…

Wouldn't worry about the F-bombs, but IMO italics, bold, and the like should be used quite sparingly, and typically only italics should be used for emphasis purposes (there's a reason the tag typically renders as italics). I think typography should be visually monotonous so that it's not distracting.

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

#16

Post by koide »

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 get very upset when junior employees try to keep me from doing the 'dirty work' I'm preparing to do or already doing.

I'm not sure where this whole nonsense of "people who lead can't get dirty or do menial work" comes from. If I had something more important to do for sure I would have delegated, but seeing that I didn't, ask why is this particular thing important or, at most, offer help. Don't tell me I shouldn't be doing this!

Context: I lead a team of 4. And by 'dirty work' I mean plugging up servers, doing maintenance on them, physical networking stuff, cleaning up debris after an installation, etc.

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

#17

Post by pbiggar »

I heard an anecdote a while back. One day, the employees of a small company arrive at work to discover that someone has taken a shit on the floor. Who's going to clean it? The owner of course. He didn't hire anyone whose job is to clean shit up, he can't reasonably expect any of them to do it, so he has to do it.

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

#18

Post by koide »

zbruhnke wrote: post #9
coderdude wrote: post #8

It's important to remember that the CEO/founder role is where the buck stops. You're ultimately responsible for every mistake and fixing it. He's right that it's not glamorous. I think that if you're a sole founder you figure this out pretty quickly though. And as a rule of thumb: Always ignore Silicon Valley hype. By the way: writing words in ALL CAPS, italicizing lots of things , and saying 'fucking' a lot made it…

Thanks for the feedback. I typically italicize and bold things in an effort to break up the black/white monotony of my site but I'll keep the advice in mind and maybe go back and make some edits. As for the 'fucking' I agree, it was actually pretty hard to write too. I grew up in a middle class family in the South most of whom would be appalled by the way this post was written(the language) but I thought it put some…

You should certainly increase font size though, that might make the italic/bold thing less necessary

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

#19

Post by objclxt »

DanielRibeiro wrote: post #4

This is also a famous quote from Steve Jobs[1]: Steve Jobs: (what the CEO does) I don't know. Head janitor? [1] http://hot-facts.blogspot.com/2011/10/facts-about-steve-jobs...

Actually, Steve Jobs' most famous janitor analogy takes it in completely the opposite direction - CEOs aren't like janitors, he says, because janitors are allowed to have excuses when things fail, and CEOs aren't.

http://articles.businessinsider.com/2011-05-07/tech/30043798...

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