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How a janitor at Frito-Lay invented Flamin' Hot Cheetos (2017)

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Re: How a janitor at Frito-Lay invented Flamin' Hot Cheetos (2017)

#41

Post by paul7986 »

bserge wrote: post #16

This is a really nice story, but you know who the other hero is? The CEO who gave him the time and the opportunity. He could've easily told him to fuck off, as many would do. Who was he, what's his name? More often than not, we get nowhere without people in better positions helping us, it would be great if more people would keep an open mind like that. That CEO deserves recognition. And if you manage to climb higher…

I agree and was very fortunate to meet such a guy right out of college where I was studying Recording INdustry. All our teachers said good luck getting a job and I was only three out 60 that I heard got a job out of college in the field.

Once I moved from Nashville to NYC for my label job I met a ton of other men and women whom this same guy gave them a chance too. That's how his career started .. he met a label head at a concert in the 80s who gave him a chance.

Great guy who helped found many popular artist careers in the 90s.

Re: How a janitor at Frito-Lay invented Flamin' Hot Cheetos (2017)

#42

Post by rualca »

scarface74 wrote: post #28
Someone wrote: post #7

Great story, but it can’t happen today. No janitor works for the company whose floors he’s mopping anymore, so janitors wouldn’t get that company-wide email.

It’s amazing that corporate America thinks it can’t hire a at all levels from the custodian to the CEO, but almost every school system and government can figure it out.

> It’s amazing that corporate America thinks it can’t hire a at all levels (...)

I don't believe that's the case at all.

It's not like they believe they can't hire someone. That's a silly assumption. There is however the idea that there are operational advantages in outsourcing non-core areas of their business. If they hire a specialized contractor to do maintenance tasks then you no longer have to bother with gaining expertise in that area, and you can even scale up and down your service to meet demands.

The rationale is like figuring out how we have lunch. Sure, we can cook it ourselves and it will certainly be cheaper. However, if we pay a third party to provide us with our lunch then we get food cooked by pros and we even have the freedom to pick fancy dishes from some other restaurant if we deem it necessary.

Re: How a janitor at Frito-Lay invented Flamin' Hot Cheetos (2017)

#43

Post by kube-system »

scarface74 wrote: post #28
Someone wrote: post #7

Great story, but it can’t happen today. No janitor works for the company whose floors he’s mopping anymore, so janitors wouldn’t get that company-wide email.

It’s amazing that corporate America thinks it can’t hire a at all levels from the custodian to the CEO, but almost every school system and government can figure it out.

Or alternatively, they've "figured out" how not to hire people unrelated to their core business? What does Frito-Lay have to be gained from engaging in the janitorial business?

Re: How a janitor at Frito-Lay invented Flamin' Hot Cheetos (2017)

#44

Post by zpeti »

Glench wrote: post #40

Two things I haven't seen anyone mention that seem important: 1. For the one person who has "made it" economically, there are countless others that haven't, that still live in one-room houses. What about them? 2. I think it's worthwhile pointing out that the product that he created, while popular and financially successful, is a junk food that has a significant impact on the health of adults and children worldwide. W…

It’s sad to see that in the last 10 years this type of comment (tries to) ruin every single inspirational story.

Just because there’s shit in the world doesn’t mean there isn’t beauty and greatness and awesomeness sometimes. In fact that’s what makes it wonderful.

If you’re bitter and all you see is the shit, and resent any inspirational story, well, good luck to you but I definitely don’t think you’ll have a productive, or inspirational life.

Re: How a janitor at Frito-Lay invented Flamin' Hot Cheetos (2017)

#45

Post by caturopath »

scarface74 wrote: post #28
Someone wrote: post #7

Great story, but it can’t happen today. No janitor works for the company whose floors he’s mopping anymore, so janitors wouldn’t get that company-wide email.

It’s amazing that corporate America thinks it can’t hire a at all levels from the custodian to the CEO, but almost every school system and government can figure it out.

I'm not sure I follow.

The reason that large companies subcontract out these roles is that they're incentivized to do so, not that they "can't figure it out". I'm not sure I've really heard people pretending otherwise.

Re: How a janitor at Frito-Lay invented Flamin' Hot Cheetos (2017)

#46

Post by burntoutfire »

rualca wrote: post #42
scarface74 wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s amazing that corporate America thinks it can’t hire a at all levels from the custodian to the CEO, but almost every school system and government can figure it out.

> It’s amazing that corporate America thinks it can’t hire a at all levels (...) I don't believe that's the case at all. It's not like they believe they can't hire someone. That's a silly assumption. There is however the idea that there are operational advantages in outsourcing non-core areas of their business. If they hire a specialized contractor to do maintenance tasks then you no longer have to bother with gainin…

> There is however that there are operational advantages in outsourcing non-core areas of their business. If they hire a specialized contractor to do maintenance tasks then you no longer have to bother with gaining expertise in that area, and you can even scale up and down your service to meet demands.

From what I've seen in practice, it's always about the outside "specialized contractor" breaking various labor laws and generally screwing workers over in order to drive costs down. This way, even with the contractor markup, the company saves money and, at the same time, is not liable and does not take a reputation hit. It's a win-win for everybody but the workers. I guess they don't put that in the MBA textbooks though.

Re: How a janitor at Frito-Lay invented Flamin' Hot Cheetos (2017)

#47

Post by Closi »

rualca wrote: post #42
scarface74 wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s amazing that corporate America thinks it can’t hire a at all levels from the custodian to the CEO, but almost every school system and government can figure it out.

> It’s amazing that corporate America thinks it can’t hire a at all levels (...) I don't believe that's the case at all. It's not like they believe they can't hire someone. That's a silly assumption. There is however the idea that there are operational advantages in outsourcing non-core areas of their business. If they hire a specialized contractor to do maintenance tasks then you no longer have to bother with gainin…

The key operational advantage is that you avoid providing any worker protections and can better achieve a race to the bottom via competitive tendering to low-margin outsourcing providers hiring minimum wage employees on temporary contracts.

Re: How a janitor at Frito-Lay invented Flamin' Hot Cheetos (2017)

#48

Post by naikrovek »

bserge wrote: post #16

This is a really nice story, but you know who the other hero is? The CEO who gave him the time and the opportunity. He could've easily told him to fuck off, as many would do. Who was he, what's his name? More often than not, we get nowhere without people in better positions helping us, it would be great if more people would keep an open mind like that. That CEO deserves recognition. And if you manage to climb higher…

Yeah CEOs never get enough respect. Also they're paid FAR too little for having an insight a child would have...

Good leadership is rare, you're right, and I don't think CEOs deserve credit for demonstrating good leadership. Good leadership should be table stakes for that position; the bare minimum.

What needs to change are the astonishingly weak disincentives (and sometimes, actual incentives) aimed at bad CEOs.

If you can worm your way into a CEO position of a company you didn't start yourself, and you DON'T demonstrate good leadership qualities with regularity, then a good old-fashioned CEO-blacklisting seems very appropriate, to me; you just don't get to be a CEO anymore.

Re: How a janitor at Frito-Lay invented Flamin' Hot Cheetos (2017)

#49

Post by jonplackett »

zpeti wrote: post #44
Glench wrote: post #40

Two things I haven't seen anyone mention that seem important: 1. For the one person who has "made it" economically, there are countless others that haven't, that still live in one-room houses. What about them? 2. I think it's worthwhile pointing out that the product that he created, while popular and financially successful, is a junk food that has a significant impact on the health of adults and children worldwide. W…

It’s sad to see that in the last 10 years this type of comment (tries to) ruin every single inspirational story. Just because there’s shit in the world doesn’t mean there isn’t beauty and greatness and awesomeness sometimes. In fact that’s what makes it wonderful. If you’re bitter and all you see is the shit, and resent any inspirational story, well, good luck to you but I definitely don’t think you’ll have a product…

Seconded. Yeah sure it's a junk food but it's not like he invented Opium or explosives or something. Give the guy a break!

Re: How a janitor at Frito-Lay invented Flamin' Hot Cheetos (2017)

#50

Post by Guest42 »

kube-system wrote: post #43
scarface74 wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s amazing that corporate America thinks it can’t hire a at all levels from the custodian to the CEO, but almost every school system and government can figure it out.

Or alternatively, they've "figured out" how not to hire people unrelated to their core business? What does Frito-Lay have to be gained from engaging in the janitorial business?

Not paying the person in between? I worked at PepsiCo for a little and most of their job responsibilities weren’t unique to the product offering or business model.
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