Tag: Here&#039s

She Posted a Video of the New iPhone X. Then, Apple Fired Her Dad. Here's What You Can Learn From It All

Brooke Amelia Peterson likes making YouTube videos. She never imagined one of her most recent ones would end up getting her dad fired.

So, what happened?

As ReCode reports:

“Peterson posted a five-minute video of a September day in Silicon Valley, which mostly included shopping for makeup and clothing. Harmless, and not unlike other YouTube videos posted by teenagers.

But then, in the video, she visits her father on Apple’s campus in Cupertino for what seems like dinner. As they munch on pizzas in the company’s cafeteria, Peterson’s dad hands her his iPhone X to test. That’s when YouTube viewers got about 45 seconds of footage of Peterson scrolling through various screens on the new design and showing off its camera.”

After being reposted by various Apple blogs, the video went viral. In a follow-up video, Peterson explains that Apple asked her to remove the original post and she did.

“I had no idea that this was a violation,” Peterson says in the video. “[My father takes full responsibility for letting me film his iPhone X.”

She then drops this major bomb:

“Apple let him go. At the end of the day, when you work for Apple, it doesn’t matter how good of a person you are. If you break a rule, they just have no tolerance.”

Peterson goes on to say that neither her nor her father are bitter. “They had to do what they had to do,” she says. “I’m not mad at Apple. I’m not going to stop buying Apple products…My dad had a really great run at Apple.”

“I don’t think he deserved this, but we’re okay,” she added. “We’re good.”

Apple hasn’t responded to any requests for comment. But while the video may seem innocent, The Verge reports that the originally posted video included footage of “an iPhone X with special employee-only QR codes,” adding, “a notes app was also shown on the iPhone X in the video, which appeared to include codenames of unreleased Apple products.”

Peterson and her father seem to have fallen victim to the snares of social media. Since this medium is ruled by emotional behavior, I couldn’t help but think of how emotional intelligence–the ability to make emotions work for you instead of against you (and the topic of my forthcoming book)–have helped.

In that spirit, let’s pause for a moment and consider a few lessons learned when it comes to your online posting habits:

1. You might go viral. And that’s not necessarily good.

Peterson claims that she never thought her video would get many views, seeing that countless others had already posted early looks at the iPhone X. She certainly wasn’t prepared for the backlash that followed, in the form of ad hominem attacks on both her and her father.

“I don’t understand the amount of hate that is in this world,” Peterson tearfully tells viewers.

If you’re part of the generation who was raised on the internet, you may dream of going viral. If you do, be careful what you ask for.

2. You’ll have to deal with the consequences. But you’re not the only one.

It’s true that the ultimate decision of what you’re going to post online lies with you. But while you may be willing to accept whatever effect doing so has on your job or reputation, you must remember that it will probably affect those who are close to you as well.

Instead of getting caught up in the moment and sharing something you may later regret, you should think before you post.

Ask yourself:

  • How will I feel about this in a week, year, or several years?
  • Could sharing this have adverse effects on myself, my family or other loved ones?

The answers to those questions may convince you that your planned post isn’t really worth it after all.

3. Parents, please train your children.

A final piece of advice for you parents:

Remember that your children may be more technologically-savvy than you, but they don’t possess your experience or same level of judgment. Further, they’re likely still learning how to handle the power of emotion. 

You wouldn’t let them start driving a car or using a credit card without giving them training and instructions, so why should you do so with social media?

If you’re not familiar with the software and applications they’re using:

  • Do some research.
  • Subscribe to their channels and follow their posts.
  • Give them feedback and guide their internet usage.

Doing so will draw you closer as it demonstrates your interest in what’s important to them. But even more importantly, it allows you to help safeguard them from the numerous pitfalls and traps they’re bound to encounter.

In the end, it may save you your job.

Or, it could save a whole lot more.

Tech

Scientists Studied the Daily Lives of 1,000 CEOs. Here's What the Best Ones Did

Absurdly Driven looks at the world of business with a skeptical eye and a firmly rooted tongue in cheek. 

I adore it when I read fine articles that tell me all great CEOs get up at 5 a.m., eat two boiled eggs, swim butterfly better than breast stroke and sleep only three hours a night.

You’d think, wouldn’t you, that at least some CEOs do things their own way because, somewhere deep inside, they’re still individuals.

Still, scientists need to find common traits upon which they can get grants and sell books. 

(Yes, of course I’m kidding. They need to make speeches too.)

I was moved, therefore, by a group of scientists from deeply venerable institutions such as Harvard Business School and one of my alma maters, the London School of Economics, opining on what makes a great CEO.

Writing in the Harvard Business Review, they explained that they examined the day-to-day lives of 1,000 CEOs, in order to understand whether boiled eggs really did have that much influence.

Yes, I made up that last part. 

I’m not, however, going to make up the conclusions from this study.

“Our evidence suggests that hands-on managerial CEOs are, on average, less effective than leaders who stay more high-level,” say the scientists.

I pause for your shock, your horror and your aghast grunts of glee.

It seems that the CEOs who didn’t meddle in every detail of every decision were, on the whole, a touch more successful that those who floated in the ether, said important things at the occasional company meeting and appeared a lot on CNBC.

I fear that there is no one formula. Any more than there is no one formula for losing in the MLB playoffs. Why, look at the Washington Nationals. They find different ways every time.

I worry, though, about this research.

You see, it “used machine learning to determine which differences in CEO behavior are most important.”

Ah. Oh. 

The algorithm was, apparently, agnostic. How odd. I generally find that algorithms tend to worship the God that created them.

Still, in the end the machines concluded that, in essence, some CEOs were down-in-the-dirt meddlers, while others enjoyed “relatively more interactions with C-suite executives, personal and virtual communications and planning, and meetings with a wide variety of internal functions and external stakeholders.”

The parts of the researchers’ conclusions I enjoyed most were their description of what CEOs did all day.

Many an employee would really like to know.

Well, CEOs spend 25 percent of their days alone. On the driving range, you might imagine. Or reading self-help books.

But here’s the part that made me reach hurriedly for a very fine glass of Cabernet Sauvignon: 10 percent of their days are spent on “personal matters.”

That’s not “personnel matters.” I can only guess it’s getting their hair coiffed and buying the odd yacht or two.

The researchers seem to lean the way of leaders — rather than managers — as the more successful CEOs. They do concede, however, that some businesses need a CEO who pokes their nose into everything. 

My own conclusion, then, is that the most successful CEOs are the ones who takes a look at a company and then realize the sort of CEO this company actually needs.

And then deliver on that insight.

I should add that, in my experience, some of the most successful CEOs have been the ones who knew how to negotiate themselves a vast payoff, just before the excreta sailed inexorably toward the fan.

But it all depends how you measure success. Naturally, these researchers tended to look at painful concepts such as productivity and profitability.

Leader CEOs seem to have engendered greater rises in productivity. 

Does that mean that people preferred to work for the leader type? I suspect so. They weren’t butting into their business so often, I imagine.

Tech