Anyone who has worked or AOL or knows the AOL rank and file knows that they’re the most demoralized bunch among any Internet company (not counting the senior management)…part of it has to do with the various fiefdoms within the company, and the amount of redtape everyone has to face to get any work done. So I am glad to see someone like Jason Calacanis is shaking it up there and doing these open houses. That is Jason’s real value within a company like AOL and even the parent Time Warner, beyond the Weblogs Inc bunch. He is, at heart, an entrepreneur, and it is tough to keep him inside such a legacy company like AOL…but this is probably the best way: let him loose.
Judging by his writings on his blog, it took him some time to get used to the culture, but he is back in his elements again, it seems. Anyway, time will tell how successful he will be…it will be defined mainly by how the team inside AOL reacts to his ways.
Disclaimer: Jason is my ex-boss and a good friend, and no, he had no idea I was going to write this, and he doesn’t talk to me about his work at AOL.
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