
Get out of my building (2009) - mooreds
https://steveblank.com/2009/10/08/get-out-of-my-building/
======
patorjk
> 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.

~~~
pinewurst
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...

------
ignoramous
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.

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

~~~
tonyedgecombe
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.

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

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

------
rasz
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.

~~~
pinewurst
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.

------
pnathan
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.

------
karl11
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.

~~~
Aloha
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.

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

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

------
duxup
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.

------
gjkood
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...](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0989200507/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0989200507&linkCode=as2&tag=wwwsteveblank-20)

[2]
[https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0984999302/ref=as_li_tf_tl...](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0984999302/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0984999302&linkCode=as2&tag=wwwsteveblank-20)

------
cityzen
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](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.

------
crankylinuxuser
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...

~~~
cowpewter
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."

~~~
Nasrudith
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."

------
ben0x539
2009 was a different time.

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

~~~
ci5er
I miss it.

------
phyzome
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.

------
outsidewithcats
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." ^_^

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

------
draw_down
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.

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

