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Tony Hsieh bankrolled his followers, who enabled his risky lifestyle

wsj.com

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Re: Tony Hsieh bankrolled his followers, who enabled his risky lifestyle

#21

Post by nickelcitymario »

rchaud wrote: post #15
Leary wrote: post #11

"Among the many friends the entrepreneur made over his life, some said the cause of his death had spanned many months, in plain sight to those who surrounded him. Last summer, his Park City companions hired an on-call doctor. Unless Mr. Hsieh moderated his drug and alcohol use, the doctor said, he would die within six months." It's one thing to overly indulge a billionaire friend, it's another to endanger his physica…

You cannot forcibly make someone go to rehab. People are quick to blame his 'friends', but it appears that they hired a personal doctor, who gave doctorly advice. What more could they do?

I kinda agree. It's entirely possible that they were being callous and greedy, but from what I've read, it sounds like they made every effort short of getting fired. Now, maybe they should have all worked together and risked him declaring them all disloyal, but it's not like they didn't try.

Plus, if I had a close friend who was doing mushrooms and nitrous oxide, I wouldn't necessarily think that was particularly dangerous. I, perhaps ignorantly, would have considered those to be relatively safe things to experiment with.

It's so easy to say what should have been done after the fact, but it can be incredibly difficult to know the right thing in the moment.

Re: Tony Hsieh bankrolled his followers, who enabled his risky lifestyle

#22

Post by Drblessing »

This is a tragedy and I sympathize with everyone involved. Also, a lesson to not surround yourself with sycophants and drugs. It's easy to blame the sycophants, but Mr. Hsieh would have replaced anyone who tried to help. Imagine you're around and care about him. Is it better to stick around and try to help, as they attempted with the wellness center and doctor, or just leave him to the wolves?

Re: Tony Hsieh bankrolled his followers, who enabled his risky lifestyle

#23

Post by Drblessing »

nickelcitymario wrote: post #21
rchaud wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You cannot forcibly make someone go to rehab. People are quick to blame his 'friends', but it appears that they hired a personal doctor, who gave doctorly advice. What more could they do?

I kinda agree. It's entirely possible that they were being callous and greedy, but from what I've read, it sounds like they made every effort short of getting fired. Now, maybe they should have all worked together and risked him declaring them all disloyal, but it's not like they didn't try. Plus, if I had a close friend who was doing mushrooms and nitrous oxide, I wouldn't necessarily think that was particularly dan…

+1, anyone that was telling him the truth gets removed, so what are they supposed to do? Looks like they tried with the wellness center and doctor. It's more grey than black and white.

Re: Tony Hsieh bankrolled his followers, who enabled his risky lifestyle

#24

Post by rchaud »

caycep wrote: post #20
rchaud wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You cannot forcibly make someone go to rehab. People are quick to blame his 'friends', but it appears that they hired a personal doctor, who gave doctorly advice. What more could they do?

In geriatric medicine, there is a somewhat defined, albeit difficult, process of declaring someone medically incompetent to manage their own affairs; they usually are committed to specialized (memory care) facilities. In some cases, the symptoms and rationale are clearly obvious. In others...these patients can be vulnerable to less scrupulous individuals. For a wealthy high functioning billionaire, but one who is arg…

The press have already painted his friends as opportunistic hangers-on. Imagine how it would have looked if they actually started making moves to take on power of attorney.

Re: Tony Hsieh bankrolled his followers, who enabled his risky lifestyle

#25

Post by caycep »

rchaud wrote: post #24
caycep wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In geriatric medicine, there is a somewhat defined, albeit difficult, process of declaring someone medically incompetent to manage their own affairs; they usually are committed to specialized (memory care) facilities. In some cases, the symptoms and rationale are clearly obvious. In others...these patients can be vulnerable to less scrupulous individuals. For a wealthy high functioning billionaire, but one who is arg…

The press have already painted his friends as opportunistic hangers-on. Imagine how it would have looked if they actually started making moves to take on power of attorney.

yeah...that's what seems to make it especially tricky. There would have to be a good lawyer involved, and I'm not sure how they would find a trusted third party to be the conservator...

Re: Tony Hsieh bankrolled his followers, who enabled his risky lifestyle

#27

Post by onetimemanytime »

Leary wrote: post #11

"Among the many friends the entrepreneur made over his life, some said the cause of his death had spanned many months, in plain sight to those who surrounded him. Last summer, his Park City companions hired an on-call doctor. Unless Mr. Hsieh moderated his drug and alcohol use, the doctor said, he would die within six months." It's one thing to overly indulge a billionaire friend, it's another to endanger his physica…

Ultimately everyone makes his own decisions, especially someone with essentially unlimited funds. We can go through the moves and end at the same conclusion.

Re: Tony Hsieh bankrolled his followers, who enabled his risky lifestyle

#28

Post by magneticnorth »

I appreciate the more nuanced view of the way his entourage both enabled and tried to help him. Earlier coverage (that I saw) just focused on the fact that all his friends were on his payroll and were forbidden from trying to get him to rehab or an intervention. But it sounds like many were trying to help in ways they could come up with that Tony would tolerate - hiring the doctor, for example. And it sounds like his family had started considering a conservatorship, as well.

I'm glad to have the impression that he wasn't surrounded only by sycophants - it sounds like he was a fundamentally good person trying to do good in the world, and it's a more positive thought that many of his friends were trying to meet him where he was and get him back on track, rather than only enabling his downward spiral - though certainly it sounds like there was plenty of that, too.

Re: Tony Hsieh bankrolled his followers, who enabled his risky lifestyle

#30

Post by sneak »

Leary wrote: post #11

"Among the many friends the entrepreneur made over his life, some said the cause of his death had spanned many months, in plain sight to those who surrounded him. Last summer, his Park City companions hired an on-call doctor. Unless Mr. Hsieh moderated his drug and alcohol use, the doctor said, he would die within six months." It's one thing to overly indulge a billionaire friend, it's another to endanger his physica…

Our lives and bodies are our own, to use, build, and destroy as we see fit.

It's one thing to help a friend avoid an accidental death, but this speaks to a months long pattern of behavior that was clearly a deliberate personal decision.

What's the point of wealth if not obtaining the basic freedom to live (and die) how we choose?

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