[anon808]

you said success is a formula, and because you were talking about an exit for an unprofitable company as being a success, it seemed logical to me that you ranked ceo 'brand' value over business profitability.

People have value (in general), calling some people A-players is trying to ascribe value to some, and as you say, that's hard to unravel. I agree ranking and valuing people is hard/impossible, why should we try . . . why are you trying? Why not let people show their own value by doing great things. I don't disregard the value, i just admit that we don't know it, the only thing we do know is if a business made money or not. It doesn't mean the person that started a shitty business is also shitty, but it also doesn't mean they're a success if all the sudden someone bestowed a crown of exit on them.