If the Shoe Fits: Avoiding Foot-In-Mouth Disease
by Miki SaxonA Friday series exploring Startups and the people who make them go. Read all If the Shoe Fits posts here
Pronouncements by pundits are often pretty funny, but those that come from corporate heads (who should know better) are worse.
That is especially true when they are obviously suffering from head-in-the-sand syndrome.
Lest you think it’s a modern phenomenon here is one from 1876.
William Orton, President of Western Union, when deciding not to buy the patent for the telephone. “What use could this company make of an electrical toy?”
Steve Jobs said e-readers would fail, because people no longer read.
Steve Ballmer, whose foot spent a lot of time in his mouth, called Google a “house of cards.”
Just last year JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon sounded off about blockchain ledger products, such as Bitcoin
“This is my personal opinion, there will be no real, non-controlled currency in the world. There is no government that’s going to put up with it for long … there will be no currency that gets around government controls.”
Of course, tech execs aren’t the only ones to nosh on their toes.
There are a lot more, read them all on CB Insights blog.
Why?
Because they might help you keep your foot out of your mouth as your company grows.
Image credit: HikingArtist