Get out of my building (2009) | Hacker News Reader

Get out of my building (2009)

steveblank.com

66 pointsmooreds31 comments

> As I got up to leave the room, the CEO said, “I want you out of the building talking to customers; find out who they are, how they work, and what we need to do to sell them lots of these new computers.” Motioning to our VP of Sales, he ordered: “Go with him and get him in front of customers, and both of you don’t come back until you can tell us something we don’t know.”

The way this story reads, it makes me wonder if the CEO realized he'd gone too far and was trying to walk things back a little. He previously had just yelled that he wanted the guy "out of this building and get out of my company". Then moments later course corrects to trying to make it seem like he just wants him out in the field finding customers? This sounds like a poisonous work environment. I do agree that there are lessons to be learned from this situation, but I wouldn't attribute them to a "brilliant" boss.

Speaking of brilliance, Ardent (the company this happened at) was a failure. The Titan had a _great_ keyboard though, one of my all time favorites for feel. Not so fond of the computer it attached to...

It reads like a walkback to me as well.

The super important takeaways for me are:

1. Swallow your pride, take a beat-down as an opportunity to learn and change.

2. You aren't good enough: Listen keenly when in a room full of domain experts. But know that you're exactly where you want to be.

3. Bias towards gathering facts by actually doing things.

4. after receiving a paddling from the CEO the correct response is "thank you sir! may I have another?"

5. Look for another job. The CEO may have been correct about getting out and talking to customers but delivering it in that way was wrong.

I've worked with people like that and they dominate their organisation with fear. It makes for an utterly miserable workplace.

6. Realize that people are imperfect and don't mean harm.

That doesn't mean you should put up with it.

Just in case you think this was profound learning experience (like the author alleges):

Company was Ardent, made refrigerator sized graphic workstation in 1988 (~1/10 of 1996 3Dfx performance), never made profit, and fizzled away in a series of lawsuits and takeovers while investors lost their money.

Was MIPS R2000-based but didn't include an R2010 FPU, having a custom vector unit instead. That was serviceable for the few programs specially compiled for it that could use it, but everything else trapped to _slow_ software FP emulation.

The machine felt like a slug and was an expensive power/thermal hog for what it delivered.

Shutting down the "I think our users will want" comment without experience or discussion with said users is a good thing, and a lesson many teams should take to heart.

Reading the comments on this thread and comparing to my own first reaction on reading this is how I know I'm not a millennial.

I don't consider a proper dressing down (with some volume for emphasis) to be abusive, sometimes a fog horn is needed to cut thru the fog.

Sometimes there isn't any fog and you're just that guy with the fog horn :)

As someone who /is/ the fog horn, its something I need to be deeply aware of, and try to modulate my volume.

I don't think it has anything to do with whether you are a millennial or not. If you try and run a workplace based on fear then the only people who stay will be the ones with no choice.

I can sympathize a bit why someone would want to put down potential random acts of management that have no basis in fact.

If you have people busting their ass doing real work to determine something and someone just thows out their ignorant thoughts into the machinery...I would be upset too.

Just for context for those who don't know who Steve Blank is, he is the author of two books that I admire the most in my journey starting up my own venture.

The story here gives the origin of one his most critical 'Epiphanies'... "Get out of the building".

"The Four Steps to the Epiphany" [1] and "The Startup Owner's Manual" [2]

[1] https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0989200507/ref=as_li_tf_tl...

[2] https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0984999302/ref=as_li_tf_tl...

Steve is big on "getting out of the building". I agree the story seems more focused around the asshole CEO but if you read 4 steps to the epiphany or do his online course, How to build a startup (it is free on udacity and actually taught by Steve: https://www.udacity.com/course/how-to-build-a-startup--ep245 VERY good course) you'll see that "getting out of the building" is a concept he mentions a lot.

Sigh. This is just another example of normalization of abuse at a workplace. I've worked at workplaces like this. They mental anguish and dread of going to work drained every bit of caring out of me.

I'll gladly take a cut in pay to be treated respectfully. Never again will I put myself in a position like that...

Not just normalization but the actual approval of abuse as building character. The CEO is honorable for screaming, the recipient gains by taking it (and doubtlessly asking for more).

I'll be honest, if what happened in that meeting happened to me, I'd probably start crying. And I'd start looking for a new job that night. There are far better ways that manager could have made his point than "You're fired, get out. JK, go research instead."

Ironically being condescending would be a better approach for once as opposed to unstable rage. As in "Sigh this is a speciality scientific market for big professional markets not a consumer one - more likely swayed by actuaries than shiny. Past decades indicate they care about function over form. Get some hands on research before speaking for customers because your old norms probably don't apply here."

2009 was a different time.

It's actually a story from 1986, which was definitely a different time.

I miss it.

Wow, what an asshole. There are so many ways to teach that lesson without being abusive.

Sounds like the CEO liked the sound of his own voice a bit too much as well.

wow. Im kind of impressed by how much the work place has improved since then. I mean...someone ruffled my hair the other day and ANOTHER CO-WORKER(also a he) STOPPED HIM!: "dude, just no." ^_^

This seems more like a horror story of ego than a profound teaching moment

It's going to be very easy to point out that these lessons were learned in an abusive environment (which it certainly sounds like they were), while completely glossing over the importance of the actual lessons. How an idea is expressed and the value of the idea are orthogonal. If someone is yelling at you, maybe they are just being an asshole. And maybe they are telling you something valuable, albeit in an unfortunate fashion.

Sure, it's just weird that he doesn't talk about the elephant in the room.

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