Linus standing down as LMG CEO

That surprised me.

And yet, it also didn't.

From what I know of him, which is just from watching videos, he doesn't seem ideally suited to the day to day grind, and detail, of managing a medium-and-growing company. And LMG has grown large enough that those day-to-day issues, not least personnel issues, could be one heck of a burden.

So his "standing down" video seems to suggest he's handing off that management role to a proper "manager", but staying on for the creative and "vision" role, a bit like a cross between a creative director and a non-executive chairman. Nothing much else, including apparently, the company ownership, is changing - he and Yvonne still own it outright.

So all in all, I find myself surprised, yet not that surprised.

Makes some sense, though you can't have two people providing direction. Will need some careful boundary drawing.

They've become quite huge over the years. A very impressive business.

How many can say they've directly worked with the founder or the CEO of their company.
Usually they're hands off and in their own bubble and rarely make an appearance.

I think this will be better for them. I get the feeling I need to subscribe to their floatplane service but feel a lot of their new stuff hasn't been showcased on YouTube and not feeling like their latest investments in their new labs is producing anything.

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Originally Posted by DanceswithUnix

Makes some sense, though you can't have two people providing direction. Will need some careful boundary drawing.

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Apparently the guy who's taking up the role is someone Linus used to work with & is someone he knows well & trusts, so I suppose that helps. Will be interesting to see how the Group develops in the future.

One of the more interesting this Linus said in the video was that he's been offered $100,000,000 for the Group in the recent past, but he (obviously) declined the offer! Not I'd have passed-up that opportunity myself!

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Originally Posted by MrJim

Apparently the guy who's taking up the role is someone Linus used to work with & is someone he knows well & trusts, so I suppose that helps. Will be interesting to see how the Group develops in the future.

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It's his old boss from NCIX - what an amazing reunion.

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Originally Posted by DanceswithUnix

Makes some sense, though you can't have two people providing direction. Will need some careful boundary drawing.

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You can if it's done right, with everyone sticking to their roles. Linus just has two roles .... or is two Linuses. Employee and CVO Linus reports to the new CEO in terms of day-tp-day operational stuff, and as long as he (Linus) respects that, it allows him to offload the parts of the job he feels aren't his thing, and do hat he most enjoys.

But then, shareholder Linus (and other shareholder, wife Yvonne) can, ultimately, fire even the CEO and the CEO has to respect that they get to define their vision of the company ethos and the destination on the road they're taking over x years. The CEO respects that, but is responsible for day-to-day management decisions on how to get there.

Providing the lines of demarcation are both clear, and kept to, it should work fine, IMHO. In other words, there are two (or three) providing the direction, but different aspects of that direction.

You can see its been a long time coming. He's obvious got a bit fed up with the day to day stuff. I was pleased to see he didn't follow the money to be honest. He does seem to holding to the plan to do things right. I'll be honest when I first encountered his videos I was a little put off but I've come to see that:
a) he really is just a geek like me who likes to fiddle with hardware - he just has the budget to do so unlike me
b) he does set up his video titles/thumbnails for views - its annoying but I can see how he needs to do what works
c) many of his videos are useful and well done.
d) He seems very happy to promote and look after his staff. Its not all about him.
e) He's very happy to call out bad behavior by tech firms.

Here's hoping it works out well for him and we continue to get someone who holds the big firms to account.