Jack Welch has died • Hacker News Board

Re: Jack Welch has died

#181

Post by Ididntdothis » Mon, Mar 02, 2020, 8:55 PM UTC

michaelt wrote: post #98

Ididntdothis wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And you don’t complain publicly about the people you hired. Especially while loudly proclaiming how good you are at hiring.

The quote does say "according to friends" - so maybe he only complained privately.

It doesn’t really matter. In his book he portrays himself as a great teacher and coach. So not his successor failed but Welch’s mentoring failed. He had all the tools available to bring up a successor but couldn’t do it. Reminds me a little of the US president. Take credit for everything positive that happens and when something goes wrong, point at somebody else and often at somebody he personally selected and hired.

Re: Jack Welch has died

#182

Post by AtlasBarfed » Mon, Mar 02, 2020, 9:02 PM UTC

optimiz3 wrote: post #34

Steve Ballmer revered Jack Welch's rank-and-yank management style. During the 2000s and early 2010s Microsoft's stack-rank reviews were infamous for the internal politics created. Didn't matter if you had a full team of top-tier engineers, the bottom 15% WAS going to get managed out. Savvy managers would hire low-tier performers to protect the productive ones. That's the only lens through which I have to view Mr. Wel…

"Savvy managers would hire low-tier performers to protect the productive ones."

Juking the stats! I'm shocked there isn't a middle management bible dedicated to this.

Where is the hackers guide to middle management?

Re: Jack Welch has died

#183

Post by AtlasBarfed » Mon, Mar 02, 2020, 9:02 PM UTC

amyjess wrote: post #107

optimiz3 wrote: post #34

Steve Ballmer revered Jack Welch's rank-and-yank management style. During the 2000s and early 2010s Microsoft's stack-rank reviews were infamous for the internal politics created. Didn't matter if you had a full team of top-tier engineers, the bottom 15% WAS going to get managed out. Savvy managers would hire low-tier performers to protect the productive ones. That's the only lens through which I have to view Mr. Wel…

IIRC Welch came up with rank-and-yank because he needed to lay people off and decided he wanted to be "fair" about it and not lay off his best performers. And somehow that got cargo-culted into "we should continuously get rid of the bottom X% of people all the time".

Yeah, it should really only be a periodic thing every 10 years, but really that's what "reorgs" mean.

Re: Jack Welch has died

#184

Post by WalterBright » Mon, Mar 02, 2020, 9:05 PM UTC

michaelgrafl wrote: post #152

WalterBright wrote: post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> because you'll miss your mortgage or education payments and loose your health care. This is why the sensible thing to do is to save up a cushion of 6 months. You can continue with your employer health care with COBRA for 6 months or a year.

You‘re saying this as if it were realistic for the majority of people to save up a cushion of 6 months in a reasonable time frame (or ever).

A majority of people are significantly above the poverty line. If they're living hand-to-mouth, they are mismanaging their finances.

For example, I know a fellow who told me he could not handle the slightest disruption in his paycheck. He was driving a new car, living in new house, wore expensive clothes, and was starting a family.

A friend of mine living in an apartment told me he was unable to pay his bills. I asked him what the payment was on his new car. I suggested he sell the car, and buy a car he could pay cash for. He surprised me by following my advice and was able to reduce his stress about his finances.

My father, an officer in the AF, was once tasked with counseling the privates on their finances, as many were unable to pay their bills on the local economy. (The AF really tries to be a good citizen in the community where the base is located.)

The privates were paid every two weeks. Half of them drank their paycheck away and ate steak for the first week, and begged/borrowed/stiffed others for money the second. They received the same paychecks, but half could not manage their finances. My father would counsel them, work up budgets for them, all for naught.

Re: Jack Welch has died

#185

Post by AtlasBarfed » Mon, Mar 02, 2020, 9:05 PM UTC

michaelgrafl wrote: post #152

WalterBright wrote: post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> because you'll miss your mortgage or education payments and loose your health care. This is why the sensible thing to do is to save up a cushion of 6 months. You can continue with your employer health care with COBRA for 6 months or a year.

You‘re saying this as if it were realistic for the majority of people to save up a cushion of 6 months in a reasonable time frame (or ever).

If you're a republican, people can't do this because of their failings and choices.

If you're a democrat, it's because the economic deck is stacked against people.

I thought that a very large majority of credit card debt was healthcare costs and other structural life costs, so that is score one for the democrat view, although we are a very unhealthy population (so back to the republican view a bit)

Then again, the real estate bubble showed that people were getting way too much house (republican view)... of course enabled by almost no oversight of the lending and financials underling it (democrat view).

Re: Jack Welch has died

#186

Post by AtlasBarfed » Mon, Mar 02, 2020, 9:06 PM UTC

rchaud wrote: post #178

hugi wrote: post #158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I feel desperately sorry for Americans when it comes to health care.

Which Americans though? There are numerous Americans and American institutions whose work specifically involves pushing the interests of insurers, pharma and hospitals on Capitol Hill, against those of average people who work minimum wage jobs and can't afford basic coverage.

Won't someone think of the executives, doctors, lawyers, and lobbyists? They have feelings too.

Re: Jack Welch has died

#187

Post by Spooky23 » Mon, Mar 02, 2020, 9:09 PM UTC

PaulHoule wrote: post #82

hristov wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And to be clear he was absolutely lying about that. Immelt was certainly a problematic leader, but a lot of the problems with GE happened under Welch. The biggest issue with GE was massive insurance liabilities for assisted living insurance which drastically exceeded anything GE predicted. Well Welch started the insurance business in GE and took on a lot of these liabilities. And while Immelt certainly had his proble…

I remember people like Suze Orman were always handwringing since the 1990s about "Why doesn't the market take off in long-term care insurance?" The obvious answer is that it doesn't work. One is that inevitably you get done in by cost disease, the other is that LTC insurance has a narrow market of people that can afford it but are not rich enough that they don't need it.

It is a deeper problem than that. Why buy insurance when you can create a trust to hide your assets and have the taxpayer pay? (Once you’re broke, you go on Medicaid)

There’s no nice nursing home or homecare. You just need enough money to get in, and the provider can’t kick you out. If you have a good support network, the only “enhanced” level of care is hiring people off the books with cash.

Re: Jack Welch has died

#188

Post by AtlasBarfed » Mon, Mar 02, 2020, 9:10 PM UTC

Digory wrote: post #105

programbreeding wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Much of those gains came from GE Capital >GE’s profit has plunged in recent years, dragged down by hidden costs in the company’s Capital unit >he gave himself an A for his execution of its operations, and an F for his choice of successor Am I reading it right that the reason GE Capital was so successful during his time was because there were hidden costs, making it appear more profitable than it was, that didn't com…

Correct. GE recognized fees up front, and pushed costs to the future. The Wall Street Journal published a massive article on GE's problems back in 2018.[0] Well worth your time, if you want to understand how big companies game their earnings. https://www.wsj.com/articles/ge-powered-the-american-century...

Voodoo accounting 101, followed by every strike-price-chasing CEO to the detriment of everyone.

Re: Jack Welch has died

#189

Post by watwut » Mon, Mar 02, 2020, 9:12 PM UTC

tgv wrote: post #166

hugi wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They always make you sound nice in the obituary.

What a nice, capable man he was: THE death of Stalin, like the death of Lenin 29 years ago, marks an epoch in Russian history. Rarely have two successive rulers of a great country responded so absolutely to its changing needs and piloted it so successfully through periods of crisis. Lenin was at the helm through five years of revolution, civil war, and precarious recovery. Stalin, coming to power in the aftermath of…

That is almost ... impressive. And scary. I am tempted to say that it would be more civil to write badly about dead people after all, cause the above civil framing basically glorifies mass murder.

Re: Jack Welch has died

#190

Post by WalterBright » Mon, Mar 02, 2020, 9:14 PM UTC

WalterBright wrote: post #184

michaelgrafl wrote: post #152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You‘re saying this as if it were realistic for the majority of people to save up a cushion of 6 months in a reasonable time frame (or ever).

A majority of people are significantly above the poverty line. If they're living hand-to-mouth, they are mismanaging their finances. For example, I know a fellow who told me he could not handle the slightest disruption in his paycheck. He was driving a new car, living in new house, wore expensive clothes, and was starting a family. A friend of mine living in an apartment told me he was unable to pay his bills. I aske…

A lot of people overspend their income because they're eating out. Restaurants are an extremely expensive way to get fed. Even a quarter pounder at McD's is $6, but I can get a half pound of good steak from the supermarket for $2. My drip coffee costs me $.03 per cup, compared to $4 at Starbucks. You can fry yourself 3 eggs for $.50.