“Once the darling of Silicon Valley, connected device company Nest — with former Apple exec Tony Fadell at the helm — is being described by some workers as a place where a toxic corporate culture has taken hold,” Sam Oliver reports for AppleInsider. “”
“‘Nest’s every step is administered to death’ by company chief Tony Fadell, one former Nest employee told Business Insider. That micromanagement is said to have created an environment where it’s ‘always crunch time,’ as last-minute design changes result in unrealistically tight deadlines that force employees to work late nights and weekends,” Oliver reports. “Other former employees who spoke to the outlet ‘highlighted an atmosphere of ‘fear’ and said that sitting near Fadell’s office meant hearing a constant barrage of shouting.'”
Oliver reports, “Discussion of the article on tech aggregator Hacker News prompted a second volley of complains about Fadell and Nest.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: As we wrote in January 2014:
A lot has been made of Google getting former Apple employees with their wild overpayment for Nest Labs. However, if Apple really wanted and valued these employees, they’d still be at Apple.
A Nest is the last thermostat or smoke alarm you want. You want quality thermostats and smoke alarms.
SEE ALSO:
Google engineer trashes Tony Fadell’s precious Nest smoke alarm – February 19, 2015
With HomeKit and Honeywell’s Lyric, a Nest acquisition by Apple would have been foolish – June 18, 2014
Will Apple’s Internet of Things vision hurt a beautiful idea? With HomeKit, Apple promises easy home automation – June 6, 2014
Smart thermostat war heats up as Apple-partner Honeywell takes aim at Google’s Nest – June 13, 2014
Honeywell takes dead aim at Google’s Nest with new iPhone-compatible Lyric smart thermostat – June 10, 2014
Dead to me: Apple’s Schiller ‘unfollows’ Tony Fadell and Nest after Google acquisition – January 18, 2014
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Dan K.” for the heads up.]
Nice try tony, there’s only one Steve
Dear Tony…that leadership style only works if you have the genius of Steve Jobs. Everyone else has to figure out a way that effectively works for them. Your title is CEO, not caesar, tsar, king, emperor, or tyrant.
Nothing worse than a manager who thinks he is the next Steve Jobs, rules with a heavy hand like Steve Jobs, but lacks the magic of Steve Jobs.
I’ve been there. I once mentioned to jerk project manager, that he should be a little less like 1984 Steve and a little more like 2004 Steve.
I regularly received vitriol in my inbox, calling a design ‘shit’ with instructions to ‘make it cool!’ … phew.. what a tool.
If you routinely have to yell at your employees, then YOU did not plan things right … or you didn’t know what you were doing.
But then again, sometimes employees are just there for the paycheque and don’t have the same invested interest in success. #perspective
Right. If you’re constantly yelling at people, why did you hire them?
This is when the entrepreneurial inventor hands over aspects of management to those with interpersonal relationship skills, which he obviously does not have in sufficient quantities. He also sounds like HE is over-driven to the point of desperation behavior. I wonder why.
Negative reinforcement is easy! It’s also self-destructive and worthy of a dinosaur.
Positive reinforcement is ALWAYS worth the effort and consistently provides superior results. Make The Effort!
Thus ends our business lesson for today.