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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

#61

Post by gedrap »

smiler wrote: post #26

Seriously, does anyone take anyone seriously who calls themselves CEO, CTO or CFO of a 5 man company? How about owner or founder. Maybe it's a cultural thing but here in the UK we'd definitely laugh at someone calling themselves that unless it was a company of a considerable size.

I think it's more about the way you say/use it rather than the name you use. All those sayings would be equally (more or less) stupid/annoying if you replace C by (co-)founder.

> I want you to think about this, how many interns get to go sit down and talk to the FOUNDER of a company about its inter-workings every day? it just does not make sense”

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

#62

Post by alttab »

koide wrote: post #16
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 b…

Is it possible that your team wants to demonstrate some level of ownership? Maybe prove to you that they have what it takes?

I don't do things because my boss is a vp and is above the work. I do things because I fully own my job and gobble up as much responsibility as I can get.

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

#63

Post by isalmon »

In my opinion CEO title should almost never be applied in a startup environment. It just shows how small you really are when you talk to people. I remember was working for one startup where we had CEO, CTO and me. How ridiculous it was before I came when the company consisted of exactly 2 people - CEO and CTO?

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

#64

Post by kevinalexbrown »

"In reality, there is, perhaps, no one of our natural passions so hard to subdue as pride. Disguise it, struggle with it, beat it down, stifle it, mortify it as much as one pleases, it is still alive, and will every now and then peep out and show itself; you will see it, perhaps, often in this history; for, even if I could conceive that I had completely overcome it, I should probably be proud of my humility." Benjamin Franklin (emphasis mine, and added only semi-seriously: how do I discuss the humility I take pride in?).

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

#65

Post by chernevik »

kevinalexbrown wrote: post #64

"In reality, there is, perhaps, no one of our natural passions so hard to subdue as pride. Disguise it, struggle with it, beat it down, stifle it, mortify it as much as one pleases, it is still alive, and will every now and then peep out and show itself; you will see it, perhaps, often in this history; for, even if I could conceive that I had completely overcome it, I should probably be proud of my humility. " Benjam…

[From a senior devil, instructing a junior in the temptation of a human:]

"Your patient has become humble; have you drawn his attention to the fact? All virtues are less formidable to us once the man is aware that he has them, but this is specially true of humility. Catch him at the moment when he is really poor in spirit and smuggle into his mind the gratifying reflection, 'By jove! I'm being humble', and almost immediately pride--pride at his own humility--will appear. If he awakes to the danger and tries to smother this new form of pride, make him proud of his attempt-- and so on, through as many stages as you please. But don't try this too long, for fear you awake his sense of humour and proportion in which case he will merely laugh at you and go to bed."

"Screwtape Letters", C.S. Lewis

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

#66

Post by sharkweek »

ams6110 wrote: post #35
pbiggar wrote: post #17

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.

At the last small company I worked for, I came in one morning to find the CFO plunging the toilet and mopping the floor where it had overflowed. I laughed and made some comment about dedication to the company, he laughed and said well we don't have a cleaning staff so someone's gotta do it.

My dad owns a janitorial company of about 15 employees who service one local area of commercial offices. The janitorial service of the warehouse is paid separately to the employee who handles it. I always thought this was funny, but I appreciate the fairness.

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

#67

Post by nothacker »

Really great post. The only thing I was expecting that wasn't there was something about having to be the janitor when it came to cleaning up other messes, like having to let people go, and then having to keep yourself from getting jaded and not taking firing someone seriously enough later.

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

#68

Post by [deleted] »

koide wrote: post #16
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 b…

[deleted]

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

#70

Post by notatoad »

smiler wrote: post #26

Seriously, does anyone take anyone seriously who calls themselves CEO, CTO or CFO of a 5 man company? How about owner or founder. Maybe it's a cultural thing but here in the UK we'd definitely laugh at someone calling themselves that unless it was a company of a considerable size.

My boss (at a 3 person company) calls himself the president. I laugh at him for it, but ultimately I can't really criticize. Solo founder is a hard job, and if you're doing it why shouldnt you be able to call yourself whatever the hell you want? It's not like there are a whole lot of other perks, and what's the harm?
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