I don't want to be misinterpreted as defending the hire (or attacking it per se), my knee jerk reaction is that Wave was a company of 250 people with 275 VPs (through some miracle of the abacus) and it struck me as hideously top heavy (although I don't know what these titles actually mean). It seemed there was a lot of VP blood on the ground after the last year, and I welcomed that ... but not so as to enable the placement of a new roster of VPs. My issue would only be with upper management vs headcount ratios ... although many did argue for a COO during the SKS years. While Solms has said and appeared to do the right things, his cv was by no means decorated with CEO-COO creds, Patton's is, regardless from where he is sourced.
I'm not inclined to interpret a style about the new guy based on a couple of lines in the press here and there as I am inclined to think that is governed by what they seek to project more than what is, nor am I willing to make much in the way of sweeping assumptions based on sourcing, I just lack experience there. Solms seeks to project a migration towards "professionalism" which is neat, but kinda cliche.
I've watched a fair bit of history T.V., and when one e.g. looks at the characterizations of The Generals prior to D-Day or The American Revolution or The American Civil War, it seems to me that every variety of style was represented (at least according to the historians).
Of course in all of those cases the Generals could shoot deserters, and I expect that particular element of style is off the table for the new guy.
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