Marc Cendella has a remarkable column this morning, well worth reading. (Frankly, he usually is and you might consider subscribing.)

Nobody every said that all rich people are intelligent, nor that all large corporations are efficient. Far from it. However, they can make messes for everyone else -- an interesting variant of the von Manstein typology of officers.

Mark Zuckerberg's Midlife Crisis
New name, new look from the Facebook founder.
Marc Cenedella
Dec 6

The midlife crisis happens to people. After almost two decades, things begin to get predictable.  Successful, but also stale. Maybe a bit boring.So the time comes to spice it up.  If it were you, you might buy a fancy car, go crazy for a new designer, or take the leap with a bold startup (that writes professional resumes for free).

When you're Mark Zuckerberg, running the world's 7th most valuable company, you think on a bigger scale.

Since Facebook touched a $1 trillion valuation this summer, he's shown the warning signs of the midlife crisis: an itch for adventure and change that needs to be scratched.Now he's gone and done it.  Changed his company's name to Meta.  New logo, new look, new colors.  It's all about the metaverse now.

As any parent during this pandemic will tell you, kids are already living in the metaverse. During lockdowns and social distancing, kids have been hanging out together in the infinite online worlds of Roblox and Minecraft, and having a ball. 

So there is some reality to his plans for virtual universes.It sure beats the boring parts of the job: the congressional hearings, the steady abuse, being the punching bag and the punchline for everyone's jokes.  So he's trying to relive the fun of his college days - the magic of creating FaceMash in his Harvard dorm room, playing opposite Justin Timberlake in that movie, and scheming to get out from under the Winklevoss twins. That was a lot more fun, and he's recapturing some of his youth with this corporate equivalent of the new sports car and flashy new clothes.

Facebook's founder isn't the only one tired of his trillions.  The Google guys got bored, too.  Their grad-school algorithm turned out to be the most successful business model in the history of the world.  The business is so good, in fact, that it has survived a number of bonehead moves that would've killed lesser companies, such as getting rid of managers, or never really understanding the need to field a sales team.

Rich, bored men who hit a certain age become rich, bored and dangerous.

And that's how the 17-year itch strikes.  Google, founded in 1998, was renamed Alphabet in 2015 (Facebook, started in 2004, was renamed this year.)  The Google guys even included a little inside joke in the new name announcement that referenced a popular HBO comedy about Silicon Valley.  

If you don't recall the von Manstein typology, it sorted officers based on intelligence (or lack of) and energy (or lack of). Intelligent and energetic is the ideal while stupid and lazy is at least harmless. The walking timebombs are the stupid and energetic. Apparently, the 17-year itch can make smart people stupid.

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