This seems to exemplify the problem I have with most EA organizations. They are often run by people who are young, with great talent, but no serious prior experience. I don’t assume malevolence from Zach, and think the most probable explanation is that he (like many at EA orgs) didn’t know the basics about what not to do while running a company. I don’t say that to be mean. But anyone with experience would understand immediately that this constituted sexual harassment under US Law and violated the Worker Protection Act. I fear EAs are prone to do everything their own way, without thought of why existing norms and structures are there in the first place. This is one of the reasons other companies often promote by seniority. They have the experience and understanding needed to see the obvious. This is the sort of thing that would be so extremely obvious to someone with decades of experience. Do other companies have worse scandals? Yes. But I think the number of scandals in EA orgs that surround “not seeing or doing the obvious thing” is much higher than average.
Experience has nothing to do with it. I have zero CEO or HR experience and it’s extremely obvious to me too. EA might have a higher rate of “not seeing or doing the obvious thing” because there is usually a blind spot in assessing the “E”—that is “Effectiveness” of the altruism. One blind spot doesn’t exist alone...
This seems to exemplify the problem I have with most EA organizations. They are often run by people who are young, with great talent, but no serious prior experience. I don’t assume malevolence from Zach, and think the most probable explanation is that he (like many at EA orgs) didn’t know the basics about what not to do while running a company. I don’t say that to be mean. But anyone with experience would understand immediately that this constituted sexual harassment under US Law and violated the Worker Protection Act. I fear EAs are prone to do everything their own way, without thought of why existing norms and structures are there in the first place. This is one of the reasons other companies often promote by seniority. They have the experience and understanding needed to see the obvious. This is the sort of thing that would be so extremely obvious to someone with decades of experience. Do other companies have worse scandals? Yes. But I think the number of scandals in EA orgs that surround “not seeing or doing the obvious thing” is much higher than average.
Experience has nothing to do with it. I have zero CEO or HR experience and it’s extremely obvious to me too. EA might have a higher rate of “not seeing or doing the obvious thing” because there is usually a blind spot in assessing the “E”—that is “Effectiveness” of the altruism. One blind spot doesn’t exist alone...