OK folks I am genuinely curious... I do not see any tech background or any product background in her previous experience. Also her PhD is in chemistry..? I am just curious how people make these moves or like when interviewing candidates, how Nike would approach these hiring? For someone like JD, I can see he has been on the board for a long time... For other questionable internal hiring and promotion, I can understand the dynamics but how MD became CTO?
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Another narcissist. Great
Hmmm because she sets very S.M.A.R.T goals?
she is going to slowly turn this place into Amazon. 3 new hires are all ex-Amazon.
amazon people don't do well outside of Amazon. The existing VPs and SDs will all LEAVE slowly. THey are all looking... that's what she wants anyways.....
Very accurate @2wnf
They couldn't hire - no one would touch the position, they even tried ex-nike folks like VR, MM, JB, SP, GW, etc. Position not setup for success & org in shambles - no one would touch it.
She has surrounded her self with yes men. That’s what id--ts do, they want constant reaffirmation. Create an echo chamber and talk in it. Nobody in that tech leadership team has good interest for Nikes business, they want to inflate titles and get out of here. When there is chaos, good people leave, it creates vacuum, and the spineless cowards get those positions, this is exactly how the existing team has been formed. They sicken me.
Let s not forget the field trip she and her team took on the week of April 22nd, first day of phase 2.
Spending time with vendors, dinner, celebrations while colleagues were losing their jobs.
She and her LT cannot be forgiven
She was THE WORST hire coming in after RL.
She kept her Instagram public through the layoffs.
Posting herself lying in a beach in Mexico, co-----l in hand, watching the eclipse while her teams were being fired.
She took no interest in the innovation team under her. Refused to come and meet them and trashed all of the work
What seriously good qualified candidate would come here???
8 months is a long time to judge the book! It’s no longer just judging by the cover. MD has shown 0 leadership skills, no empathy and no technical chops. But, she fits the bills here, literally every leader here is a duma-s, so that works out.
For starters, when you have someone (or in this case several someones) extremely unqualified making the hiring decision…
@1un It’s been 8 months since she started and the closest thing to tech leadership she’s displayed was her remarking that we should not chase shiny objects and then practically in the same breath says we should dive completely into AI. We’re well past the “cover” and it’s quite a terrible book.
Nike is not a debate club in high school.
She is not measured but how many debates/arguments she won.
At least should not be.
@1unw she doesn t listen. That s why people do not challenge her.
And her VPs are a group of survivors who will do anything they can to protect their careers.
That s why she is so “successful” when challenged
I would rather have a leader that listens, is ok to be challenged and brings good Vps to help her.
Yes, she is going for other bigger roles. I m just amazed by the fact 1) she could not grow further on amazon 2) was being severely beaten by competitors there (ie shein) and 3) led a company selling not exactly fashion/sports, but rather a marketplace without any significant brand/product presence.
In the old times this history would be challenged, but in today s Nike she can indeed get a bigger role.
Because a tech driven president is exactly what we need right now… just like we need a tech driven CEO. Oh wait… we hired a tech driven CEO.
Interesting post indeed. I once looked up JD on LinkedIn and could not figure out his career path. It seems he got a Bachelor degree and the next thing you know he is CEO, board of director, etc ... I had always have the same questions about a few people that when you look at their LinkedIn, it seems they started their career from the top 😳 Geniunly interested how some people have started their career as board of director, VP, CEO, etc
"Then we’ll get a tech driven tech leader. "
i am not sure chemistry is the best choice
maybe math, statistics, computer science, biology, or even mechanical engineering
It’s a great question but also the wrong question. The question is not “how” but “why.” JD is not hiring for a CTO… He is hiring for the future replacement for HON or CW. It all depends on how the knives fall but make no mistake MD will be a President of one of the 2 core businesses units in around a years time. Then we’ll get a tech driven tech leader. Until then, hold on.
It’s a great question, one would logically assume Nike would want someone capable of setting a direction for something. Much like all of the SLT decisions it makes no logical sense.
I would not judge a book by the cover. May get criticized, people may not agree, but she knows a lot more than one would think for a “fashion” leader. Few would challenge her directly and succeed.
Agree to disagree.
Probably hired a headhunting firm who narrowed it down to a few potential candidates. MG was hired because of her personal brand and Amazon connections, not her tech background.
Amazon + fashion = hire