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Comment by viraptor | Hacker News Reader

In line with the Persident of Nintendo who was reported to never play games. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hiroshi_Yamauchi

I don't have enough context on how well Yoshitaka Sakurada is doing in his job, but at a high enough level it's possible to be a good leader without skills required to do the job few levels below. (not sure it's a good idea to strive for, but still)

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> at a high enough level it's possible to be a good leader without skills required to do the job few levels below

Sure. But being 68 and not being able to use a computer in 2018? Not recognizing what a USB stick is?

This is more about the fact that this person is not up-to-speed with society, doesn't really understand what has been happening around him the last 20 years. What dense Japanese cave did they find him in? Basic interest in society seems like a minimum to become a minister. The fact that he is minister for cyber security just adds irony to injury.

Agreed. One of my favourite manager types didn't have the first clue about the actual details of what we did. But he did listen to expert advice from the team beneath him and act on it. Bring the appropiate expert to meetings where it might be relevant and like you say, it can actually work. Obviously in an ideal world they'd know some basic bits, but if faced with the choice of a micromanager or a clueless person who listens to expert opinion i'll take the latter.

These counter-examples are what "prove the rule". They succeeded despite not playing with their own products. Good for them. But they are noteworthy because they are such outliers.

Counter-examples never prove the rule. Otherwise the same logic could also be used for the inept cyber-security minister, that he is noteworthy because he is an outlier. We have had education ministers who have never been teachers, defence ministers who have never served in the military, etc. and they are not noteworthy.

I'd say those people get the same noteworthiness treatment from the members of their respective professional fields.

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