

The adventures of Norway's most radical billionaire - duck
http://fortune.com/2015/03/07/fred-olsen/

======
DIVx0
I know it was just an aside arc to the main story but having just listened to
an interview* of Sam Simon, he mentioned that he was the creator of Mr. Burns
look. The original character was more 'fat cat' style but he turned Mr. Burns
into more 'vulture' like after seeing the sketch.

* Marc Maron's WTF podcast.

------
adaml_623
So a company that made TIMers for EXplosives was called Timex after a magazine
and tissues. I suppose it's not impossible :-)

From the article:

"a Connecticut-based manufacturer of bomb fuses for the British government,
the Waterbury Clock Co. A few years later Thomas Olsen would rechristen the
company Timex"

"Recalls Fred: “My father always loved to noodle with words. He liked to read
Time magazine, and he used a lot of Kleenex, so he put the two names together
and got Timex.”

~~~
oska
A perceptive point. The whole piece felt like a paid for PR piece to me.

------
bshimmin
Enjoyable article.

I'm sure it doesn't matter a great deal, but I was interested to see that the
Fred. Olsen & Co. web site is nearly as spartan and antique-looking as
Berkshire Hathaway's: [http://www.fredolsen.com](http://www.fredolsen.com) vs.
[http://www.berkshirehathaway.com/](http://www.berkshirehathaway.com/)

(The former looks like they did briefly employ a web developer once, perhaps
in the late '90s, while Berkshire Hathaway's suggests to me that Mr Buffett
may very well update it himself.)

~~~
declan
I once tried to interview Warren Buffett and was connected to his personal
secretary, who very kindly said it was unlikely to happen. No phalanxes of PR
folks, just her. Maybe she updates the site for him. :)

To respond to your spartan web page point, let's compare the page load times
vs. Apple.com, which most of us might agree is beautifully done.

Berkshire Hathaway speed (Google PageSpeed): 99/100

Apple.com speed (Google PageSpeed): 62/100

Berkshire Hathaway speed (via Pingdom): 476 ms

Apple.com speed (via Pingdom): 1.68 sec

There's something to be said for a 3.4KB web page...

------
reitanqild
Wow, I work in O&G here and knew nothing about this.

I also guess he's quite right that in many cases you are better of skipping
school though of course it helps a lot more that you come from a smart wealthy
family.

~~~
tormeh
Business school is special in that it's a lot about learning vocabulary and
networking. If you're born into the network and don't need to impress anyone
with your vocabulary then the value proposition of business school is pretty
low.

~~~
spydum
funny, I had the exact same conversation with some nyc guy on a flight to SF a
few months ago. He was convinced I should go to back to school get get MBA, so
I could know the vocabulary to speak intelligently with management. I
mentioned how ridiculous it is to spend so much money to learn a handful of
concepts and words. The social network expansion is certainly compelling, but
I'm just not sure the value is there for experienced folk: they typically
already have a social network.

~~~
GFischer
I did a specialized MBA, and for the experienced business owners, it did add
value in the form of a "free" consultancy - they could use their own companies
as case studies, run things past the professors and classmates (which were
sometimes much more useful than the professors), have access to a wide pool of
different skills.

And classes helped by forcing students to apply standard methodologies or
tools to their existing businesses, you can always uncover some angle :) .
It's not "just vocabulary", and yes, some of the classes can be fluffy/"soft",
but I think that even the most jaded businessman can derive some value - in
the case of the jaded businessman, maybe a fresh or naïve look at their
business ! Or a honest assesment from outside you might not get from employees
or consultants.

I think that you could argue the opposite: if an MBA is made up entirely of
fresh graduates looking to enter consultancy, you're losing out. I think a
good MBA student mix would be made up by diverse backgrounds, and I was lucky
to have that.

~~~
burger_moon
In a way with how expansive the internet is you can get the same results by
sourcing that yourself. For example, regarding your first 2 paragraphs, you
get those kind of results by posting 'Show HN: ' threads to get assessment and
constructive criticism on your product or business. Additionally you are
getting a varied response from people all over the world and at all different
experience levels and perspectives.

However where online environments are still lacking but getting better is
networking. Although places like this are a little better than trying to go on
reddit for networking and business advice for example. More transparency
behind who is behind the words will usually net better results in that regard.

------
sfjailbird
_His presence galvanized and terrified employees in equal measure. [...] “He
could be really rough when he was mad about something. He could shame you. But
you knew why, and you knew you’d screwed up. If you were as passionate as he
was, he loved you, but if not, you were gone.”_

Reminds me of someone...

~~~
drzaiusapelord
>But you knew why, and you knew you’d screwed up.

I find these justifications for personality types like these to be more than a
little revisionist. The reality is when you deal with a short tempered person
at the top of the food chain, anything sets him off. A bad mood, arbitrary
shit, "who moved my cheese" mentality, etc.

Then we expect the workforce to shame themselves and assume they did wrong
because Mr. Temper Tantrum is always right? Of course he is, afterall we still
want to collect a paycheck. So now the web team is up all night rolling back
the website design because Mr. Temper Tantrum woke up one day and some of the
navigation was slightly different and he decided to chew out the CTO. Yes,
this has actually happened to us.

Please stop pretending guys like Jobs or Torvalds are these ultra-honest truth
tellers and because they're so honest and visionary that basic manners dont
apply to them. They're flawed jerks just like the rest of us; the thing is
they're in a position where their jerkism can't be questioned. That's not to
be celebrated.

I'm kind of an expert in this as I have staff under me and am a short-tempered
person. Its my worst trait. I work on it (I suffer from sleep apnea and its
related moodiness), but its slipped at work a few times. Treating people
poorly, even if they've done wrong, is inexcusable in a professional setting.
The people I have gone off on just sit there and take it. They know if they
push back then their paycheck could be on the line. Its not worth it to them,
so it gives me all the freedom I want to be an ass. Its really, really unfair
to them and I hate myself for the times I've done it. No level of apology
really brings back the trust and comradery we once had.

~~~
Dewie
I wonder if being at the top of the food chain like that spoils some people.
Instead of trying to reflect on how and why they get annoyed or are easily
irritable, they are excused for letting it out and taking it out on other
people, so they don't have to. Maybe if they _couldn 't_ indulge in those
things, they could get over all the things that annoy them.

Same way with how "primadonnas" can get away with being picky and demanding.
People indulging them exaggerates every impulse and preference they have.

~~~
GFischer
See Clarkson, Jeremy:

[http://news.sky.com/story/1443812/suspended-clarkson-to-
appe...](http://news.sky.com/story/1443812/suspended-clarkson-to-appear-
before-bbc-panel)

"According to reports, he lashed out because he was unable to order a steak at
the Simonstone Hall Hotel near Hawes, North Yorkshire, where the production
team were staying.

The Sun and Daily Mirror said the hotel's chef had gone home by the time they
arrived and they were only offered cold meat platters, although Clarkson had
ordered a £21.95 steak.

The papers quoted a source who claimed Clarkson blamed Mr Tymon for not
arranging hot food and said there had been a "scuffle"."

------
sbt
Being an adept sailor is practically a requirement for the upper classes in
Norway. The maritime culture is in the DNA of the country. The king himself is
a world champion sailor.

~~~
tormeh
Don't forget walking fast on skis. It's a weird place...

~~~
arethuza
Also "walking fast on skis" and then shooting things:

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biathlon](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biathlon)

~~~
tormeh
I don't think that's a thing normal people do. Rich Norwegians don't shoot
much with guns, neither for hunting nor otherwise. It's at best a lower-class
or farmer thing. Combining it with skis is really only done in the military
and professional sports.

~~~
reitanqild
> Rich Norwegians don't shoot much with guns, neither for hunting nor
> otherwise.

Disagree, - some of them are well known for it.

Unrelated to parent but still interesting: As far as I know Norway has (had?)
one of the most well armed populations in the world. They learned a lesson
after WW2 and until late 90ies weapons (G3-s at that time) and ammunition
where stored in private homes (at least three of my best friends from
childhood grew up with those in the house.)

~~~
arethuza
Per 100 people the level in Norway at 31.3 is slightly less than Sweden (31.6)
but much less than the US (90) and much more than the UK (6.6):

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Number_of_guns_per_capita_by_co...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Number_of_guns_per_capita_by_country)

NB Not trying to make a point - just found your comment interesting, looked up
the numbers and thought I would share them!

~~~
reitanqild
Thanks! I thought we were at about the same level as US so this was
interesting to me as well.

~~~
wtbob
Average ownership rates don't tell the whole story, of course: there are a lot
of Americans with many guns and a lot with none, whereas other countries might
have a more even rate.

Percentage of households with firearms would be interesting; median ownership
would be interesting too.

