I spent a bit of time with a retired CEO who oversaw a huge decade of growth in his company. 5 years post retirement he still knew a lot of the workers at all levels by name, was very well liked by everyone we met. He had a few observations about his success:
I didn’t do anything magical, I was just in the right place at the right time and I didn’t screw it up too badly. I have heard similar sentiments from investors who made it big during the .com bubble.
My biggest challenge was in hiring people. In a given year, if 50% of my hires didn’t actively make things worse, that was a good year.
Re: And then these parasites make it to the boardroom and any chance to slow them down vanishes.
What I have seen of board room denizens is: they are personally wealthy and well connected. They exist mostly to provide “warm introductions” for relationships that may make themselves richer. They retain their seats through their personal wealth/power and the connections it brings, and the company retains them by providing them something they value - either monetary or powerful connections.
Being on the board isn’t what makes them unstoppable. Being in control of F.U. money x10 is what makes them unstoppable.
I spent a bit of time with a retired CEO who oversaw a huge decade of growth in his company. 5 years post retirement he still knew a lot of the workers at all levels by name, was very well liked by everyone we met. He had a few observations about his success:
I didn’t do anything magical, I was just in the right place at the right time and I didn’t screw it up too badly. I have heard similar sentiments from investors who made it big during the .com bubble.
My biggest challenge was in hiring people. In a given year, if 50% of my hires didn’t actively make things worse, that was a good year.
Re: And then these parasites make it to the boardroom and any chance to slow them down vanishes.
What I have seen of board room denizens is: they are personally wealthy and well connected. They exist mostly to provide “warm introductions” for relationships that may make themselves richer. They retain their seats through their personal wealth/power and the connections it brings, and the company retains them by providing them something they value - either monetary or powerful connections.
Being on the board isn’t what makes them unstoppable. Being in control of F.U. money x10 is what makes them unstoppable.