Interchangeable Parts: CEO Edition
The disproportionate and unearned reverence for the tech tycoon seems to finally be coming to an end. There's very little evidence in their actions or their own words that any of the most prominent tech leaders deserve all the deference they've been getting.
But there's solid evidence that they're mostly interchangeable. Apple has lost an iconic CEO three times: Steve Jobs twice, and now Tim Cook. It keeps on chugging along. Google has had a few CEOs now. So have Microsoft, Oracle and Amazon. On and on.
Now Nvidia's CEO is on his way out. Nothing I've read, seen or heard about him suggests he's an extraordinary human being, and he didn't personally invent or create anything interesting. I don't think he sits in the back of a factory making chips by hand either, so he's probably the most replaceable person at that whole company. I hope the board proves it by making decisions that allow the company to maintain business as usual (minus the espionage). If they pull it off, and my theory is right, hopefully we scale that and stop humoring and enabling Elon Musk and all the rest of these small men who think their money gives them brains and who think everyone who doesn't think like them is an idiot.
Silicon Valley won't like this, but I think we're headed back to accountability. It won't be enough to change course depending on who won the last election (see Alex Karp). People will answer for the choices they made.