Agree that the letter is good. But I'm puzzled by your reaction to it. Seems more of a populist "touchy feely aw shucks nice guy". How does that make you want to work for him? He wrote a good letter. What about the things he sucked at? What about the immaturity? The bad business decision. So what he is humble.
Some of the business people who are viewed as the most heartless and absolute assholes (by outsiders) can be incredibly loyal if you are on the inner circle and can provide you with opportunity. The nice guys can be swayed by others and give you the axe.
Business is business. Being a nice guy doesn't equate to winning in many cases.
Your comments sometimes come off as abrasive. That has no impact on whether I would recommend you or your company for security work (which I have done btw). My wife choose a doctor with a great bedside manner for a difficult operation our daughter needed.[1] I found a world class person who specialized in the exact problem who was almost impossible to deal with and very dismissive. He handled a difficult operation brilliantly. That's what I want the personality is secondary.
[1] Risk of facial paralysis a possibility with bad outcome.
Got to agree with you, tptacek. People are conveniently forgetting that so many other fired CEO's with fat bank balances have not bothered to be honest about their reasons for leaving.
It seems like there might be a lopsided U-shaped curve to the expected benefit of "cut[ting] through the crap." On the left, at zero admission of guilt, is the baseline. It seems that in the middle there would be a diminished return expected when making a qualified or partial confession, but if you can get past a certain threshold (which may not be possible for all people in all situations), the expected benefit shoots back up.
The letter is great -- super-gracious, self-deprecating, funny, self-aware. It makes him look good and makes it pretty difficult for other people to criticize or attack him. But I don't think the letter necessarily reveals (1) his true feelings about anything or (2) whether he's a good guy to work for.
It's a fair point, and you balance out the spectrum of "touchy feely vs. effective," but it's just that: a spectrum. People don't have to be abrasive and impossible to deal with in order to be brilliant, and people don't have to be in touch with their emotions and have good bedside manner to be incompetent and a waste of oxygen.
I think his point that he "made it so far" on his first try is apropos. He's done a shitload as CEO to capitalize on the opportunity and generate a ton of value (debatable whether that will be long term value) in a way that few people ever do.
To fault the guy for having a good exit letter seems a bit myopic.
>Business is business. Being a nice guy doesn't equate to winning in many cases.
Regardless of how relevant it is to Andrew Mason's case this is a very important point to realize. It certainly was one for me and many others I know of. Mind you, "winning" in this case doesn't only pertain to selfish, zero-sum victories; it's relevant in the boarder sense of "winning": "the art of choosing actions that steer the future toward outcomes ranked higher in your preferences" [1]. Recently I was linked to a Cracked.com article [2] that I think summarizes the difference between "being a nice person" and "winning" in the boarder sense with great, harsh lucidity. Please don't let the tone dissuade you from read the following quote in full.
>Let's say that the person you love the most has just been shot. He or she is lying in the street, bleeding and screaming. A guy rushes up and says, "Step aside." He looks over your loved one's bullet wound and pulls out a pocket knife -- he's going to operate right there in the street.
>You ask, "Are you a doctor?"
>The guy says, "No."
>You say, "But you know what you're doing, right? You're an old Army medic, or ..."
>At this point the guy becomes annoyed. He tells you that he is a nice guy, he is honest, he is always on time. He tells you that he is a great son to his mother and has a rich life full of fulfilling hobbies, and he boasts that he never uses foul language.
>Confused, you say, "How does any of that fucking matter when my (wife/husband/best friend/parent) is lying here bleeding! I need somebody who knows how to operate on bullet wounds! Can you do that or not?!?"
>Now the man becomes agitated -- why are you being shallow and selfish? Do you not care about any of his other good qualities? Didn't you just hear him say that he always remembers his girlfriend's birthday? In light of all of the good things he does, does it really matter if he knows how to perform surgery?
>In that panicked moment, you will take your bloody hands and shake him by the shoulders, screaming, "Yes, I'm saying that none of that other shit matters, because in this specific situation, I just need somebody who can stop the bleeding, you crazy fucking asshole."
>So here is my terrible truth about the adult world: You are in that very situation every single day. Only you are the confused guy with the pocket knife. All of society is the bleeding gunshot victim.
I'm surprised I haven't seen it mentioned yet, but it strikes me as very similar to Conan O'Brien's "dismissal" statement, especially the "People of Groupon" greeting. It's effectiveness is in the plain, straightforward truthfulness and a dash of self-deprecating humor. Refreshing, but also a great PR move.
"People of Earth:
In the last few days, I've been getting a lot of sympathy calls, and I want to start by making it clear that no one should waste a second feeling sorry for me. For 17 years, I've been getting paid to do what I love most and, in a world with real problems, I've been absurdly lucky. That said, I've been suddenly put in a very public predicament and my bosses are demanding an immediate decision."
The fact that Conan points out how lucky and rich he is makes his letter a bit better in my opinion. (And let's be frank -- if you watch the film made about Conan's banned from TV tour it's clear he was very hurt by the whole deal.)
The video and this letter are both very small snapshots of him as a person. Your impression of him is probably not representative of reality. Consider learning more if you care to have a more accurate impression?
Yes a few hundred million will make life easier but admitting you failed, up front in a letter you know will be read by everyone you can think of - it takes a certain kind of raw
