What Does Yahoo Recruiting Semel And Physics Have In Common?
from the apparently-everything dept
The guy who headed up the executive search for Yahoo's new CEO is now explaining some of the thought process that went into the decision to hire Semel. Apparently, it has a lot to do with physics. Yes, physics. He explains the difference between potential energy and kinetic energy, and suggests that Semel has a lot of kinetic energy in the form of momentum. Basically, this means that Semel has built something before, so the theory is that he'll keep right on building at Yahoo. Of course, I wonder how that theory works in relation to the Peter Principle which suggests that people get promoted to their level of incompetence - people keep building until they reach a level where they're no longer competent to build any more. Anyway, it seems a little weak to trust the future of your company to someone because they have "momentum".
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basic physics
kinetic energy: KE=(1/2)mv^2
momentum: p=mv
kinetic energy and momentum are related by (1/2)v, but certainly not equivalent. i.e. if they're talking about physics, it's a real mistake to say "he has kinetic energy in the form of momentum."
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