http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2007/11/universal_music_ceo_doug_morris.html
If I were their shareholders right now, I would be asking for his head. How can you have any confidence in an executive that doesn't know how to hire people. One of the most important qualities of even the lowest level manager is the ability to hire people who know how to do what you don't/can't. This man is responsible for running an empire...and now I seriously doubt that he even has any clue at all.
They held on to (and are still holding on to) a failing, inflexible business model for far too long. Folks...it's too late.
EDIT: check the linked article here as well: http://www.wired.com/entertainment/music/magazine/15-12/mf_morris
When Morris is asked why the music business didn't work harder, in the early days of file-sharing, to build its own (legal) online presence, there's this exchange:
"There's no one in the record industry that's a technologist," Morris explains. "That's a misconception writers make all the time, that the record industry missed this. They didn't. They just didn't know what to do. It's like if you were suddenly asked to operate on your dog to remove his kidney. What would you do?"
Personally, I would hire a vet. But to Morris, even that wasn't an option. "We didn't know who to hire," he says, becoming more agitated. "I wouldn't be able to recognize a good technology person — anyone with a good bullshit story would have gotten past me."
If I were their shareholders right now, I would be asking for his head. How can you have any confidence in an executive that doesn't know how to hire people. One of the most important qualities of even the lowest level manager is the ability to hire people who know how to do what you don't/can't. This man is responsible for running an empire...and now I seriously doubt that he even has any clue at all.
They held on to (and are still holding on to) a failing, inflexible business model for far too long. Folks...it's too late.
EDIT: check the linked article here as well: http://www.wired.com/entertainment/music/magazine/15-12/mf_morris