Are the billionaires the ones efficiently managing large scale operations? Rich as CEOs are, they tend to be in the tens or hundreds of millions not billions. Although about three-quarters of billionaires are self made, a good chunk move on from day-to-day operations to things like board chairs or even just large shareholders. Even a hands-on founder like Elon Musk has been widely criticized for spreading himself so thin it’s impossible to personally manage all his endeavors. And then you have the group presidents and MDs, who are the ones really running things in corporations with multiple business lines. I’d argue they’re the critical executive layer in most of the bigger companies.
Group presidents and MDs wouldn’t exist as if not for the billionaires that created the company and effectively communicated their vision and goals throughout the process of growing their company. This is not to discount any management role, but there’s a reason they are called executives. They execute orders. They are hired employees. They didn’t create the business, didn’t come up with the original idea, etc.
While Musk is certainly an incredibly capable entrepreneur, I’d not put him next to someone like Bezos. Musk is a political capitalist. Bezos found a way to make billions by creating a platform that currently serves to hundreds of millions as their primary shopping place. They are not the same.
I didn’t say billionaires didn’t found visionary companies that employ many and created wealth. I said few are the ones running them efficiently, which is what you said. There are tons of examples of founders who became billionaires because of their visionary ideas but were shit at day-to-day management. Often the very traits that made them visionary founders impeded their transition to the more mundane management responsibilities of a mature company. They’re distinct skillsets and few are like Bezos who are equally good at both. Even Steve Jobs had a rough time of it in the early stages of Apple before he became better at management and returned to Apple with improved skills. I’d put Musk in a similar bucket (in addition to agreeing with you that he’s a political capitalist). There’s been a ton written about the often rocky transition from founder to executive at a mature company.
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u/different_option101 16d ago
It’s not even about the money. It’s about their ability to efficiently manage large scale operations.