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Originally Posted by Stringswinger
Our marketing classes were run by two profesors who were full of themselves and thought none of us could possibly know anything until they taught it to us. This was right after McDonald's tried and failed with the McLean Deluxe, a healthy "burger" made largely of a seaweed derivative that I actually liked but no one else did. They couldn't give them away and dropped them like hot rocks in 1996. Our marketing profs used the McLean Deluxe as an example of niche marketing, in that they claimed it was a failure because Micky D's was a kid's restaurant and they didn't stick to their niche with the seaweed burger.
My teammate the engineer raised his hand and asked these two geniuses if they'd ever tasted one, to which they replied no. Ed responded exactly as you'd expect an engineer to respond with "It failed because it sucked!" He then pointed out that he worked at the Boeing plant across the street from a huge McDonalds, and most of the clientele were Boeing employees - there were rarely any kids in there. The response was a simple "you're wrong, Mr McKeever".
Engineers don't take lightly to erroneous criticism, so he tracked down the ad agency that handled that account and contacted the executive who did the marketing & advertising for the McLean Deluxe. When Ed told him why he was calling, the guy said "It didn't sell because it sucked!" Ed asked for a letter to that effect and brought it to class the next week. Despite perfect scores on our exams, all of our team got Bs in that class. This ruined my perfect record. It was my only B in business school - all the rest of my grades were As!
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05-16-2022 04:21 PM
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Originally Posted by nevershouldhavesoldit
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Originally Posted by nevershouldhavesoldit
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Is chrome or nickel better I really don't know if there is a preference. Chrome wears better usually.
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Chrome/nickel… has a lot to do with where you live. My barrier island life destroyed anything nickel. Chrome faired ok.
Dave don’t fret on your one B in an MBA program. I was working for Sperry Univac when I did mine, 1979. Our law prof was an IBMer, who unbeknownst to me was involved with defending IBM against their laser printer litigation.
So jk does a research paper on how the Sperry laser was all environmentally buttoned up, as opposed to IBMs which just threw all kinds of gas and toner crud into the room. (Both these were both machines about 3-4’ wide, 7-8’ long, 4-5’ high. Not desktops)))
So, guess who got the only D in that class and in his straight A MBA?
Never liked IBM.
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OP: recommend trying out both guitars. I did that recently and my ears liked '59 reissue better than '66(?) with the chrome tailpiece, which in turn was better than the gorgeous blonde 50s P90 specimen. My eyes preference was 50s > 60s > reissue.
Bought the reissue.
Good luck, enjoy the process, try to hold off for the one that really speaks to you
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Originally Posted by JohanAbrandt
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Originally Posted by JohanAbrandt
The winners in life are not those who "suck up" from what I have seen.
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Originally Posted by Stringswinger
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Originally Posted by Stringswinger
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Originally Posted by Christian Miller
My experience is that it takes a certain personality (alpha dog) to be a good manager. And the best managers are quite talented.
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Originally Posted by Stringswinger
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Managers can become place holders. They do time sheets, weekly status, budgets, reviews and if asked to change usually ask why?
Leaders OTOH get a concept, stroll into the CEO’s office, play ‘you bet your job’ and say why not?
Management has a bad rap anymore. Too many placeholders giving the good technicians and doers the idea that a management gig is a dead end. Unless they want to stay with the soldering iron in their hand or be a sideman (nothing wrong with that) we need more doers to take the reigns, get in that CEOs face and scream what if?.
But
”more geese than swans now live, more fools than wise”.
jk
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The more you do management the less you do the thing. The more you get paid, otoh, but that’s not fundamentally why people who are passionate about a thing do it
Some people are also not suited for that job, some people who might be amazing at making jazz guitars or designing rocket engines or whatever but be shocking with people. I mean that’s not controversial is it lol?
(That said, guitarists we all end up doing a bit of management from time to time. Metheny did it, so I’m not too good lol. Drive the car, take the stupid questions, deal with late musicians etc. We aren’t bassists… you also need to be at least a bit social as a musician…)
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I think there is a problem in how we value work. In many professions the manager must have a higher salary than the people he/she manage. This puts a cap on what a talented professional can make. So we end up with the most talented surgeon behind a desk instead of with a scalpel in the hand
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So there is at least one thing we have right in the US healthcare system. The pharma companies I worked for, and oddly enough in the US government agencies, both have career tracks that allowed one to progress up a salary chart regardless of management or “independent contributor” (our term in Health and Human Services). Of course at a certain level management tracks did gain far better comp packages, either in public or private sectors. (Stock options, bonuses, other perks.). But of course that came along with more risk in your position as to expectations of you and your team’s performance. And in pharma world eventually they expected research or tech track people to have a PhD.
Hah probably why i spent a lot of my career as an independent consultant. I was Overpaid, and combined management and production, and happily above local corporate (or Agency) politics.
Bought some nice guitars too)
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Originally Posted by Stringswinger
The great managers I have seen are the ones who are great listeners, who can recognize great talent or a great idea when it walks in the room. It so happens that my wife was one of these, and she managed to build a huge creative business from nothing. I wouldn't call her an alpha dog, but I would call her ex-partner one- in his own mind. He was a terrible manager, though excellent creatively. And he managed to destroy everything my wife built after she retired! Glad he's out of our lives.
I would however call the '59-63 period the alpha dogs of ES175's.
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Originally Posted by bluejaybill
The alpha dogs of ES-175's may well be the 59-63's but the 82-98 ES-175's are a strong contender for me as well. And the last few years of production (2015-2017) produced some stellar examples but sadly, many dogs (without the alpha )
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A couple of lessons I’ve learned.
You never make a lot of money working for others. Unless you’re a Surgeon, Lol!
We have way too many lawyers and Marketing people, and they need to justify their salaries.
Best leaders hire the best talent they can find, and stay out of their way!
As a professional guitarist, there’s no money above the 3rd fret
Theres always a bit of truth in urban legends, especially older guitars. Problem is the newer stuff is way more consistent and better built overall.
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