Mark Cuban has a post up arguing that criticism of Jeff Zucker’s handling of NBC’s late night situation is hurting America, because we need people like Zucker to take risks.
A few responses:
- Zucker’s experiment failed. It did not fail due to unforeseen circumstances, or because the competition took some dramatic action. It failed for pretty much the exact reasons people thought it would.
- We don’t, at any level support people who take risks that fail. If I quit my job and started a business that failed, there might be safety nets that would keep my family from starving, but I would also expect to receive criticism rather than applause for taking a risk.
- Didn’t we get into this recession as a result of banking execs taking huge risks and being insulated from the consequences?
But perhaps the oddest part is Cuban continuing the hot shot CEO myth:
I have a saying, “No Balls, No Babies”. It was told to me by a blackjack dealer when I asked if I should double down on an 11. The message was simple. If you dont take the risks, you dont get the rewards.
What Zucker did was more like doubling down on a 12. With the dealer having an Ace showing. But lets’ continue..
Well that used to be the case. Its not anymore.
In today’s corporate world, if you don’t take the risks, you don’t get skewered on blogs, on cable news, in the newspaper. Public condemnation appears to be a far worse consequence than financial success is a reward. Thats a huge problem for our country.
So these guys need to take multi-million dollar risks, but they’re going to get scared by a little negative commentary?
Give me a break.
