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Everyone Else Must Fail

Posted by timothy on from the everyone's-gonna-die dept.

ElectricAnt writes "First of all, I should mention that this book is complementary to Softwar: An Intimate Portrait of Larry Ellison and Oracle reviewed earlier here. Everyone Else Must Fail has not been approved, endorsed or edited by Oracle or Larry Ellison, so it could be that many things were said out loud for the first time. Karen Southwick is a journalist who has covered many technology subjects, and written three previous books about Silicon Valley's business side. She wrote this book, at least partially, based on the interviews with former Oracle executives who were either fired by Larry (as Ray Lane) or left Oracle to start their own business (Tom Siebel)." Read on for the rest of ElectricAnt's review. Everyone Else Must Fail: The Unvarnished Truth About Oracle and Larry Ellison author Karen Southwick pages 320 publisher Crown Business rating 6/10 reviewer ElectricAnt ISBN 0609610694 summary The way you shouldn't run your business My first impression was that this book was a former employee's act of revenge against the big bully boss, but as you read along you see that Southwick kept a neutral point of view, presenting only the facts without jumping to the conclusions.

As you would expect, there is more business than technology in the book, not to say that this is bad, but you'll find only the top slice of Oracle's business: sales, marketing, consulting etc. You won't find many discussions on how, why and which technology has been created or adopted by Oracle -- it's mostly how this technology has been sold to customers, and what happened afterwards.

Southwick covers nearly all of Oracle's history, starting with 1979 and up to mid-summer 2003 when Oracle launched its campaign to acquire PeopleSoft. The book's starts with a quote attributed to Genghis Khan ("It is not sufficient that I succeed. Everyone else must fail.") which Larry Ellison obviously likes and uses quite often. After a start like that, it's all downhill from there.

Larry Ellison is portrayed as a natural leader: visionary, extraordinary productive and effective. At the same time, he is the "supreme dictator," "extreme narcissist," "most controversial CEO," all this is combined to make "a grandiose, deeply flawed, yet extraordinary, human being." My favorite quote in this book belongs to Rich Hagberg (a management consultant). When he drives by Oracle's towers, he says, "I tell my kids that's where Darth Vader lives." This is not the book's only harsh definition of Ellison. If Softwar is an "intimate" portrait of Larry Ellison then Everyone Else Must Fail is definitely an "intimidating" portrait of him.

Oracle's culture is defined as "brutal, draining, and filled with potential pitfalls." The relationship between Larry and his subordinates, and what's equally important, with Oracles customers (the Oracle mindset is described as "use 'em and dump 'em.") Everyone is expendable, success must be achieved by all means, and everything is measured by how useful a person is to help Ellison implement his vision.

The list of dumped Oracle executives includes Tom Siebel of Siebel, Craig Conway of PeopleSoft, Greg Brady of i2 Technologies, Marc Benioff of Salesforce.com, Gray Bloom of Veritas, the list goes on and on. As soon as Larry Ellison feels that an executive gains popularity with customers, employees, and can, potentially, outplace him, he will find a reason to get rid of that person. Due to Ellison's personal "insecurity" to deliver the news face-to-face, many of those execs were fired "remotely," usually over the phone, and while on vacation. Coincidentally, almost all of them were fired just before the next portion of their stock options vested. Some of the discharged workers filed wrongful termination suits, but few of them won: none of them have talked to Larry since.

Only Bob Miner, Oracle's co-founder, top developer of Oracle's DB, and later head of development, is shown as a friend. Unfortunately, Bob Miner died in 1994 of lung cancer and Larry was left in the void. Over the last three years, Ellison fired all key members of his management team and concentrated all power in his own hands, leaving Oracle without much a needed counterbalance to Ellison's whimsical desires. With increased competition from IBM and Microsoft, unhappy customers, and flawed leadership, Karen Southwick questions the future of Oracle but leaves the question open.

The customers of Oracle DB were technology experts and didn't mind the need to fiddle with the product until they got it working; the real problems started when Oracle began to release ERP and CRM applications. These applications use the technology and don't invent it. In Ellison's eyes, though, the technology is "cool"; he likes to create technology and respects engineers, he doesn't like to perfect it. If something goes wrong with the product, the company attitude seems to be that it's because customers did something stupid.

I found the comparison between Oracle, Microsoft and IBM very interesting: both Oracle and Microsoft are seen as "technology" companies, both have core technologies (database and operating system) and everything else revolves around them, "you better buy everything from us or you're out." It's a sink-or-swim approach.

By contrast, IBM has marketed itself as a "solution" company that brings whatever customer asks for, the best-of-breed approach. However, in positioning .NET as an enterprise system, Microsoft makes one step forward to the solution approach. Oracle still hasn't make any steps in that direction.

A few things in the book are very entertaining -- for example, the story of Rick Bennett, who single-handedly served Oracle as an advertising agency from 1984 to 1990, the most aggressive ads Oracle ever ran were created by him. When Ingres was acquired by ASK Computer Systems Oracle ran a full page ad: "WE KICK ASK." This and some other examples of Oracle's ads from that era can be found on Bennett's website.

If you're looking for a recipe how to piss off your customers, screw up your employees, alienate your partners this book is for you: it has a detailed description how to achieve all that based on Larry Ellison's extensive experience.

You can purchase Everyone Else Must Fail: The Unvarnished Truth About Oracle and Larry Ellison from bn.com. Slashdot welcomes readers' book reviews -- to submit a review for consideration, read the book review guidelines, then visit the submission page.

13 of 216 comments (clear)

  1. Everyone else must fail now by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    At getting first post.

  2. Re:AND I FAIL IT by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    sorry i was busy reading it.

  3. Slashdot personals? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    WTF? Is it April fools? You got to be joking!

  4. SUCCESS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    You fail failing. You are a SUCCESS!!!!111!!!11!!1!11111!!!!!

  5. Re:Book was written by a woman by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    Don't forget cooking!

  6. Jumping to conclusions by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    You know, I had an idea like that once...

  7. CLOSE YOUR FUCKING TAG POLESMOKER by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    jackass

  8. Expert Advice by Fisting+Advice+Troll · · Score: -1, Offtopic
    Whether you are attending a private sex party or a public club, there are some good manners that should be followed. Obviously these rules will vary for different parties, but here are a few good rules to follow so that you don't become an unwanted guest and never get invited back again.
    • Don't be a sling lizard - In other words, don't get into a sling unless you have a play partner. And if slings are limited, give other people a change to use the sling.
    • Lay down paper towels on the floor before playing to collect any spilled lubrication. You may also want to place a paper towel under the bottoms butt. Wipe off the play area and the bottom completely before leaving the play area. It is the tops responsibility to make sure the lube is wiped off the bottoms butt and that the floor and sling or table is wiped off and clean for the next person.
    • Ask your host what the house rules are This includes where you are allowed to play and what supplies you should bring (I always bring my own lube, beverage, paper towels and other party supplies to private parties). At THE SLING you can bring your own lube or we sell it there. Bring your own beer if desired, we provide sodas, paper towels, gloves, condoms and shower. For all parties it's polite to bring your own towel in case you want to shower
    • Don't just walk up to a play session and join in It's best to try to get some eye contact to see if they want you to join in. It can be very distracting to be in a scene and have somebody just join in especially if you don't want them there.
    • Keep unnecessary conversation and noises out of the play area Try not to have regular conversations where people playing can hear you. Also, if you are a screaming or make loud noises during play, this may disturb other guests. Some people enjoy the loud moans and groans but many find it disturbing.
    • If you move any equipment around return it to the original spot when done For example, if you raise or lower the sling, return it to where it was when you got there. Or if you move a table or chair, return it.
    • Do not share lube. This can lead to the transmission of HIV and other diseases. The cans can become contaminated while playing so it's good to write you name on the jar of crisco or lube.
    • Wash off hands and arms and dick when done playing Preferrably with an antibacterial soap.
    • Don't walk around the party in street clothes or be a gawkerAt most play parties the guys are usually in jocks or chaps so that their butts are exposed
    Proper Fisting Technique Photograph
  9. Greg Brady made a poor career decision... by iiioxx · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Instead of going into the software business, he should have been an architect like his father.

  10. MODERATION ABUSE by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    This is not redundant, this is the first post mentioning italics problems

    1. Re:MODERATION ABUSE by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

      keep modding me down assholes - got thousands of proxies

    2. Re:MODERATION ABUSE by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

      lick my bleeding anus

  11. MAY I CRAM MY ERECT PENIS UP YOUR RECTUM? PLEASE? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic