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26 Comments
- dcmusicfusion, on 11/16/2007, -1/+17His argument is wrong for at least four reasons, although I think you should still digg the article...
First, the wisdom of crowds wins. He's also leveraged his blog as a group of advocates for the company.
Second, He's proving that he cares about his customers and he listens. That sort of openness and authenticity is what will make this announcement like flypaper to social media advocates across the web.
Third, whatever the success of Mahalo, this type of action is a win for Calicanis as a brand and career-minded individual.
Fourth, your credibility argument assumes the old model--and other industries. Visionaries who are over-concerned with perception politics end up being zeros on the innovation and success fronts. - toastgodsupreme, on 11/16/2007, -3/+9So you're saying never take input and ask questions, just go running straight in and hope everything comes out ok?
I have someone I'd like you to meet, hold on I'll get him. Here he is, his name is George, but you can call him Mr. Bush.
Sometimes it's hard to see how things can be improved and changed when you're sitting on top. That's why it takes input from everyone on your chain of command. From managers, to the lowly mail staff. - LLamaStar, on 11/16/2007, -2/+7why is this on the front page?
- DamnMan, on 11/16/2007, -0/+5yes community CEOs suck. we want our CEOs like they are! having huge golden parachutes in their contracts, insane multi million dollar saleries and vary creative book keeping. Nothing stirs my confidence in a company like when they hire a good old school CEO on contract and he works a whole week before quitting with millions in a severance package.
is a "community CEO" good? ***** knows. However you cant tell me they are any worse. - inactive, on 11/16/2007, -1/+5does anyone actually use mahalo?
- toastgodsupreme, on 11/16/2007, -0/+3Well, put yourself in his position. You're running a company or whatever, making all these descision, like you do. And you find yourself saying "I've made all these great improvements, but I wonder if anyone else has ideas as well."
Honestly, I'd take a CEO who's always looking to improve even if it means taking advice from the "common man" than a CEO who only relies on a handful of people for advice. That shows me he wants to keep things moving. I don't expect people to be perfect, and if a CEO can say "Hey, I've got a bunch of great ideas and decision making skills, but I want to know what you think too." then he's a better man for it.
I don't see it as a failure at doing his job, I see it as a CEO wanting to expand beyond himself and his personal advisers. Sometimes, that's exactly what's needed too. - FTLJohnson, on 11/16/2007, -0/+3Exactly WHAT about "Generally, if you are good at your job, you will make more good decisions than bad, and handle the mistakes well. " sounds like George Bush? Are you sure YOU guys aren't republicans? You seem to have the same literacy issues Bush does...
If Kevin had continued censoring the HD DVD code and didn't have the wisdom to know which way to go, he would have been a bad leader... Too much consulting is silly... sometimes its best to act and react... - hellotyler, on 11/16/2007, -0/+3No, but I just tried it and it was kind of interesting. Interesting enough to get a bookmark. It was nice to have them root out all the BS search results for xbox mod chips.
- sekhui, on 11/16/2007, -0/+2fracking blogspam.
- Firehed, on 11/16/2007, -1/+3Very true. But there's a difference between taking input and blogging about the fact you're desperate for some. As an employee (or a shareholder - I could honestly not care less as a customer), I want my CEO to know how to make tough decisions while remaining approachable. You don't want some delusional nutcase who thinks s/he's always right at the top, but you don't want someone who has to ask what his/her company should be doing either. Asking what someone else would do in your position is just a roundabout way of saying that you don't know what you're doing and desperately need advice. Stating your plans and requesting others inputs on those plans can net you the same result, without looking (and acting) like an indecisive fool.
- Firehed, on 11/16/2007, -0/+1CEO is a legally defined term that applies to a specific person within a corporation. Just as I was VP of IT in a company of thirty that only existed for twelve weeks (by design) - sure, in context, it may not have the same prestige someone would typically associate with the title, but that doesn't change what my job was.
- soniasimone, on 11/16/2007, -0/+1Worth the Digg for the comments, which is where the meat is on this one.
- mpredosin, on 11/16/2007, -0/+1Wrong. CEOs should be asking their customers for input.
- eplawless, on 11/16/2007, -2/+3For the record, Jason Calacanis is a gigantic douchebag.
- MonkeyFarts, on 11/16/2007, -1/+2"A good leader isn't about asking questions and then taking action... Generally, if you know how to do your job, you should take action, and deal with the RE-ACTIONS. ... If you are always afraid of what will happen if you make a major mistake, and are constantly in a stage of consultation about the decision making process - you are dead weight."
Here's my interpretation of that:
As a leader, you make decisions, and lots of them. You must rely on yourself and your own intuition and wisdom in making these decisions - you're not going around to people asking, "What should I do now?" You need to have the confidence and wisdom to make the right choice by yourself. After you make your decision, people will react to them (in the case of business, your customers). You see this kind of relationship all the time; you yourself engage in such a relationship every time you make a judgement of a product. A good CEO will look at these reactions and will in turn respond, either by continuing a particular model that's making customers happy, or improving his model to better suit his customers' needs/desires. A good CEO, then, will make more good decisions than bad ones for the sake of keeping customers happy, thereby keeping sales (and confidence) up.
I agree, FTLJohnson. - jonathansoeder, on 11/16/2007, -0/+1Wow. Listen to all of you sheep. Do you consider yourselves useless without an authoritarian type who doesn't listen to you or care what you think? Do you consider your own opinions meaningless, and instead defer to the experts? If you do, you're probably right at home in Corporatist Amerikkka. If you don't, why prescribe these traits to everyone else? A community CEO is a bad idea because it is an oxymoron. But economic organizations run by and for a community? You will never work or live in a free country until you see such a thing as just and desirable. The democratizing power of the new media will make such a thing inevitable, so if you're not on board get out of the way.
- mikedoth, on 11/16/2007, -0/+1Right CEO's that don't listen are why we had Enron and well... not really a CEO but close, look at Bush.
- fabioakita, on 11/16/2007, -0/+0The author is right, a leader should not open stuff like that. Who was the oxymoron that stated that the customer is always right? People don't know what they want until you give it to them. Sure, you still run research and to proper analysis on it, but never ask for direct input. For one, not everybody will agree, so you will have split your consumers into left-wing and right-wing. It is utterly impossible to make everybody happy. Another thing is that expectations go too high. So, wrong wrong thing to do. If you're a leader, 'feel' what the crowds would like, advertise it as the best thing next to sliced bread and make them believe they need it. Works for Apple. When was the last time Steve Jobs asked for customer opinion? Right: never!
- inactive, on 11/16/2007, -2/+2That sounds like a bad leader, actually. Maybe a current leader of the United States, actually.
- smileya5, on 11/16/2007, -1/+1A "community CEO" doesn't work because they're necessarily in conflict with one another. ALL CEOs are enemies. ***** leaders and ***** corporations.
- FTLJohnson, on 11/16/2007, -7/+7A good leader isn't about asking questions and then taking action... Generally, if you know how to do your job, you should take action, and deal with the RE-ACTIONS. Sure, you'll occasionally make mistakes (like... say... maybe trying to censor your users from posting the HD-DVD DRM decryption code) but your wisdom will allow you to REACT to those things. Generally, if you are good at your job, you will make more good decisions than bad, and handle the mistakes well. If you are always afraid of what will happen if you make a major mistake, and are constantly in a stage of consultation about the decision making process - you are dead weight - effectively crippling the progress of your organization.
- Shiftgood, on 11/16/2007, -2/+2Basically this guy is saying dont rely on idiots. And make sure youre not an idiot yourself.
Fantastic advice for any CEO.
/dugg i guess... - FTLJohnson, on 11/16/2007, -1/+1Did you just call OTHER people sheep, and then use the expression "corporatist amerikkka" in the same sentence? That's humorous... silly individual hating socialists... you are like a comic book character.
The problem with american corporations is not the fact that they are run by individuals, it is the fact that the COMMUNITY based aspect of ALL corporations by the very definition of the word... Is the GOVERNMENT. Corporations are protected by government officials elected by the community. They are protected from having to be responsible for their actions by the very community you want to see have MORE power to act with. Why? So we can have more wars and taxes? Communities are for the birds... It's time to reverse the trend towards socialism and fix this failing country. It's no coincidence that YOU made THIS post of the same day that an article was posted to digg talking about the End of the U.S. currency's 62-year reign as the world's main currency... - aliengoods, on 11/16/2007, -4/+2First, the wisdom of crowds only works with rationality, otherwise its mob rule.
Second, I'm not sure why you think that. Please provide some context.
Third, you're probably right, but only time will tell.
Fourth, the old model still applies. When the last time you saw a picture of the founders of Google? If they're not what Wall Street wants to see, they stay out of the publics eye. - EPICFAILURE, on 11/16/2007, -3/+1DUGG UP FOR EPIC FAILURE
- inactive, on 11/16/2007, -4/+1CEO of what? People need to give themselves more appropriate titles. Manager maybe but CEO implies that it's a much larger company than it is.
I had never heard of this rubbish until now.
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