In article <
[email protected]>,
"Andy B." <
[email protected]> wrote:
> "Kurgan Gringioni" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
> >
> >
> > On Jan 27, 1:39 pm, "Andy B." <[email protected]> wrote:
> >> "Ryan Cousineau" <[email protected]> wrote in
> >> messagenews:[email protected]...
> >>
> >> > The fact is, every one of us (or virtually every one of us) is locked
> >> > out of lucrative jobs by virtue of our inability to do them as well as
> >> > the top performers.Now that's funny.
> > Dumbass -
> > It's also true.
>
> Ha Ha. Except for sales, the ability to interview well and lick ass is
> almost always inversely proportional with the ability to do the job. I
> suppose if you're really talking about top jobs (e.g. athletes and artists)
> its different, but gaining access to middle management (what Ryan was
> talking about) is all about stroking your boss, not ability. Just look at
> the American and European auto industry for an example of an almost trillion
> dollar industry being run into the ground by "top performers" making
> millions a year.
Taking your specific example, we should probably remember three things:
1) predicting car trends years into the future is hard
2) GM in particular has benefit liabilities for current and retired
workers, which, while entirely its own fault, mean it has a very hard
row to hoe in competing
3) Toyota is extremely good at what they do, and it must suck to have to
sell beside them.
After all, it's not that this year's GM cars are worse than last year's
GM cars. It's more that this year's GM cars are not quite as good as
this year's Toyota cars.
Regarding the Euro auto makers, I think they are doing okay, aside from
DaimlerChrysler, which seems to be suffering from lingering effects of
the merger. And having to compete with Toyota.
Indeed, one could read the entire auto industry as a continuing
progression of meritocratic "winner takes more" economics.
On the other hand, there's a big transition to EV that is likely to be
driven by Li-Ion (or even better next-gen energy storage systems) in the
next decade. I predict that one or more current major autobuilders will
fumble the ball and do badly through the transition, and that several
small car or EV component companies will profit handsomely, if only by
the inevitable buyout.
> Most top jobs are landed by people who make better choices than others in
> their career path.
Well, I don't see how that contradicts my assertion.
More importantly, unless your boss is retarded (it happens; send out
resumes) stroking is virtually irrelevant. I don't know what it's like
in your offices, but even in my public-sector IT backwater, what makes
the boss look good and feel happy is competent employees who do good
work on time. This year's supervisors were last year's best technicians.
And I say this as the tech who didn't get promoted.
To hire and promote badly is for an organization to put itself at a
competitive disadvantage. It's as simple as that. It happens, and then
market shrinkage or bankruptcy ensue.
Have you considered a better company?
--
Ryan Cousineau
[email protected] http://www.wiredcola.com/
"I don't want kids who are thinking about going into mathematics
to think that they have to take drugs to succeed." -Paul Erdos