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Comment by JimBrimble35 | Hacker News Reader

The real hero of this story is the CEO who decided to take this guy _and_ his idea. He could have easily taken the idea and ran with it on his own, with Montañez spending the rest of his life mopping floors.

I wonder how likely this scenario would be in today's world. I have found personally that many companies are unwilling to take risks on employees who aren't formally qualified, even if they demonstrate the skills to operate at far beyond their current pay grade.

Second real hero of the story is his wife. How important is it to have people around you who will enable you do things you aren't qualified to do because they believe in you unconditionally? All of the importants.

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> The real hero of this story is the CEO who decided to take this guy _and_ his idea. He could have easily taken the idea and ran with it on his own, with Montañez spending the rest of his life mopping floors.

A practical question, and a moral one:

Would it be have worked out had the CEO tried to steal Montañez's idea, given Montañez came up with the spices himself?

Does someone merely not doing something unethical, at no cost to themselves, make them a hero?

"real hero" is definitely overstating it – I'd hope we as a society haven't reached the point where doing the decent thing is seen as going above and beyond. Hopefully the CEO saw it not only as just the right thing to do, but also the smart (and legal) thing to do – Montañez's story could in the long-run inspire more innovative ideas and culture at the company.

Sorry, but we have _definitely_ reached that point. Granted I'm extremely cynical, but stories like this are outliers and not the norm. And not simply because of the scale of the success.

Read my other comment on why I consider the CEO the hero of this story.

Ah yes, the whole "people in power are heroic when they don't take advantage of the poor" logic.

The guy answered a question about market share like a 4 year old answers "how much do you like tacos?". The CEO had to take a risk on this guy, had to put him in a position to become valuable. Yes, taking someone with a grade 4 education and building them up the the level of success in this story is heroic.

I would posit that the "stealing the idea" would have gotten them some success, but not nearly what Montañez brought them. That CEO had good eyes when it came to people.

How unethical would it be to take is idea and simply compensate him for it in some small way. A promotion, a bonus, some small percent of the proceeds.

My point here, and it was obviously lost on some, is that the CEO saw the possibilities for the person, instead of simply seeing an interesting idea. I'm sure there are plenty of stories where a similar scenario played out and the protagonist didn't end up in Montañez's position.

I feel like this comment buys into the assumption that so many people have that 'ideas' are the valuable part. The idea wasn't the valuable thing Montañez contributed... it was the whole execution.

A CEO isn't going to 'execute' on an idea by himself... it isn't like he was going to steal the idea, and go into the kitchen himself and create the cheetos. He needs someone who can drive an idea forward to execution, and that was the real thing he was selecting Montañez for... the idea was the easy part.

> A CEO isn't going to 'execute' on an idea by himself

No, they are going to give it someone else to execute on.

Giving it to someone with Montañez background and position, even with the initial legwork he had done was, while heroic is certainly hyperbolic, at least noteworthy. Heck, taking the call was noteworthy. Execs that invite workers to “act like owners” it similar often don't really mean it and don't offer meaningful support when they do.

Credit is due the executive assistant who informed the CEO of the call instead of triage-ing it to the bit bucket.

I didn't understand why this post was so controversial, but now I get it. If you undermine the idea that individual dynamism (the american dream) is solely responsible for individual success, you'll get downvotes.

I partly agree. But I think the CEO is an equal hero, not the "real hero". The CEO accepted the call, listened, and entertained an idea from a janitor. That's part of what makes the story impressive to me

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