January 2, 2012
- Goldman Sachs alumnus who did well during their time at the company, did not fare that well when they ran their own companies. e.g. MF Global
- Joel Spolsky once remarked the same about Microsoft alumnus.
The explanation for Goldman case: Compliance auditing, compliance accounting, risk management and many other such best practices were not noticed by these alumnus while working Goldman. Then, when in their own companies, they did not execute these crucial functions properly.
The explanation for Microsoft case is also the same. Spolsky likened those alumnus to the ship crew who don't really know what is happening under the deck, in the ship engine rooms.
In a recent nice book Demand: Creating What People Love Before They Know They Want It, the authors attributed Netflix's early rise to what they call a 200-years old secret weapon. Netflix was a hi-tech company but it owed its early rise to the 200-years old postal distribution system in the US.
Innovation can happen behind the scenes as well as in your plain sight.
We are raising our price again.
Of course, we are not needy. More about the link between lack of innovation and neediness in hi-tech companies in coming weeks.
I cannot agree with you more. A lot of innovations happen behind the scene, under the surface etc.
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