@caseyjennings i have no deep knowledge of Stonecipher. these last months i've been following a lot of media / podcast takes on WTF Boeing, and it's pretty common in them to blame Stonecipher, for McDonnell Douglas / GE "culture" and the outsourcing decision. i'm frustrated with leaving explanations at "culture", and was reading pocket histories of Boeing's CEOs ( Wikipedia, also https://www.historyoasis.com/post/boeing-ceo-history ) when i realized he was very unusually an outside hire, thought abt that, came up with this.
@caseyjennings "Senior mgmt consistently viewed themselves as the critical asset for GE" that… well, the old hubris/nemesis conjuncture is not out of place. i imagine gigabrain Star Trek futuristic humanoids having their colons excised because colons are, um, earthy and beneath them. then bad consequences ensue.
"Do Economists Understand Business?" #ArnoldKling https://arnoldkling.substack.com/p/do-economists-understand-business
@phillmv responding in reverse... i think it can work at the conglomerate level! but only if the CEO, who is really a portfolio manager, doesn't break what they own by imagining they know better, or tell themselves immorality tales about how a little pressure and adversity could only do some good. the conglomerate CEO's role is more like board member than owner, a source of advice, counsel, and resources, but not command. if unsatisfied, the conglomerate CEO should usually just sell.
@phillmv yeah. Berkshire is a conglomerate, and Buffett/Munger have always been very clear that within broad parameters of decent performance, they stay out of the way and let business-unit managers do their thing. it's fine to treat your business like a financial portfolio, if that's in fact what it is, and you don't ruin your holdings by arrogating micromanagement or squeezing cash flows.
@caseyjennings it's more straightforwad perhaps! but also not mutually exclusive.
and in particular for Stonecipher (by the time it was Calhoun or even Muilenberg, the die was cast), i think it's instructive to put oneself in his place. Boeing was just an entirely different kind of firm than McDonnell Douglas, and there he suddenly was. Almost Forrest Gump-ish. But he was not a humble man. What on earth are you doing to do with all these "engineers" always trying to tell you what to do?
"The common people pray for rain, healthy children, and a summer that never ends. It is no matter to them if the high lords play their game of thrones, so long as they are left in peace. They never are." (A Game of Thrones, George R. R. Martin)
cf @paninid https://mastodon.world/@paninid/112268182344408843
@paninid just tried. it works!
i have to say i’m not cheered, though.
[new draft post] Seeing like a CEO https://drafts.interfluidity.com/2024/04/14/seeing-like-a-ceo/index.html
guys? i don’t think it would work. where’s the collective digestive system? https://todon.eu/@RadicalGraffiti/112242221125101821
the word “because” is so frequently an act of hubris.
@realjuddlegum @Jonathanglick practice makes perfect!
@paninid I tried to read this and BAM. No idea why. Never happened before.
the worst thing that could happen to the Palestinians is a war “on their behalf” that pits Israel and the US and US-aligned Arab states against Iran and its proxies and allies. in the context of an “existential war”, anything could be done and making too much of a fuss about it would just be aid and comfort to the enemy. queasy stuff would be cut from the newsreels, downranked and piled on in social media. the Smotriches would have their way, often in the worst way. war is hell, you know.
@admitsWrongIfProven @Alon yes!
we are the worst and that's why we're different. (negative exceptionalism)
we are the best and that's why we're different. (positive exceptionalism)
"The connection between negative exceptionalism and bad practices is that negative exceptionalism always tells the reformer: 'we’re ungovernable, this can’t possibly work here.'" @Alon https://pedestrianobservations.com/2022/08/18/negative-exceptionalism-and-fake-self-criticism/ ht #MarketUrbanism
"The fundamental problem is that most layers in the software stack are highly concentrated, starting with the three operating systems. Network effects and economies of scale apply at every layer. Remember "no-one ever gets fired for buying IBM"? At the Ethereum layer, it is "no-one ever gets fired using Geth" because, if there was ever a big problem with Geth, the blame would be so widely shared." #DavidRosenthal #DSHR on how "Decentralized Systems Aren't" https://blog.dshr.org/2024/04/decentralized-systems-arent.html
@Transportist You really shouldn't say that.
the word "fuchsia" is kind of funny when naively sounded out.