I’m currently working on a blog post that includes tables and stats, but as it’s Sunday evening and my eyes are getting tired I’ve decided to leave that until tomorrow. Instead I’ll talk about the new CEO, whom I haven’t got a clue about.
We can start with ruling people out. Back in March 2008 I published a post entitled “Privacy And Robin Linden Will Not Be CEO“. This post was prompted by me suggesting at Robin Linden’s office hour that we were awaiting Robin to be crowned CEO, someone else congratulated Robin, prompting Robin to vehemently deny she was going to be CEO and to go even further by suggesting she would never be CEO.
However roughly six years on is quite a long time, so I can confirm that Robin Harper will not be in the running for the CEO position. I have this from a reliable source, trust me on this. I never reveal my sources … unless bribed heavily with gold and grog.
So anyway, the new CEO. What sort of person will fit the bill? The last two CEO’s have been surprise choices and I think the next one will be a surprise choice too. Linden Lab is still quite a large company and many an ambitious person in the right field will be tempted by the position.
I’d like someone from the games industry at the helm, someone with experience of running MMO’s. This doesn’t mean someone who makes games, just someone from that industry, from somewhere such as Blizzard.
Others will groan at such a suggestion but when you look at Second Life, it’s a virtual world with added commerce. The job requires someone who has a history of managing a large number of users, has community engagement in their heart and knows about subscription models.
I don’t think we’ll see any great changes under a new CEO, some products may be shelved but I don’t think the general direction Linden Lab are heading in is going to change much. A new CEO will of course bring a fresh face to the table and renewed hope amongst the users. This will eventually end up dividing opinion, no matter what they do, as has happened with all previous CEO’s but that’s the nature of the job.
I feel that Rod’s departure has taken everyone by so much surprise that they haven’t had time to think about the new CEO properly, but just remember that the new CEO is not likely to be Superman or Wonder Woman, they have limited influence and ability, so don’t expect too much.
1) Did anybody predict Rod Humble?
2) Does it matter?
-ls/cm
Rod Humble and Mark Kingdon were both surprises and no it’s not likely to really matter unless something major happens to LL.