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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Steel_Wind" data-source="post: 5442361" data-attributes="member: 20741">Erik Mona is answerable to Lisa Stevens. That's it. So yes, it IS fair to say that Paizo is closer to their fans and is more nimble, in terms of corporate decision making and the corporate heirarchy, to respond to changes in the marketplace as contrasted to the process of decision making at WotC and its ultimate responsibility to Hasbro's Board of Directors.As Erik has explained elsewhere (episode 007 of our podcast, for example), for the most part, Erik calls the shots on what products get made or don't get made at Paizo publishing. That's his job as publisher within the company. He gives Green lights and he gives red lights; that's his job.He's earned that responsibility for the very good reason that Erik Mona happens to have a proven track record that shows that he has an extremely well developed sense of what sorts of products will appeal to a widely divergent marketplace. Erik knows how to guage how a product can be gussied up to appeal to old skool gamers and how *same product* appear fresh and new to others. It's something Erik has a real talent for. He demonstrated it as editor of Dungeon magazine, did the same with Dragon and has done so at Paizo ever since.I'm sure that he's made mistakes. But from what I can discern - it doesn't appear that he has made too many of them.I'm sure that Lisa Stevens is heavily involved in many of these decisions and, let's be clear, she does have the final say at Paizo. That authority is not in doubt. It's her company, after all. She was in on the ground floor for White Wolf Publishing, was Wizards of the Coast first employee (and had a $take in the company as well) and Paizo Publishing LLC is her baby. Last time I checked, that's a singularly KICK-ASS track record in the hobby games business. In fact, if you are looking for a better track record in the business, you simply won't find a better one. But it is not an insult directed at Lisa Stevens (or Vic Wertz) to suggest that both of them trust and rely upon the recommendations of Paizo's key staff, and in particular, they trust and rely upon the business judgment of Erik Mona on a day-to-day basis.  Just as I am sure that she relies upon her own, too.One of the most undervalued qualities in a CEO is the ability for that CEO to select EXACTLY the right people to make key decisions in the company. If the CEO gets that right? Things generally go as well as they possibly can. That does not necessarily mean that the company will  be profitable, but it usually does mean that things go about as well as they could reasonably be expected to, in all of the circumstances.If you are the CEO of a company that makes fedoras and garters for men's socks, say, then no talented decision maker is going to make that core business the envy of the world. Dead product lines are dead product lines -- no matter who is in charge.At the same time, if the CEO puts the wrong people in charge of key decision making elements within the company? Well... Those are the sorts of companies that frequently make poor long-term business decisions. The company's underlying market position may be so advantageous that the company's natural strengths can hide the sins of the key decision makers for a very long time. Eventually, however, the truth wins out over the long-term.In the case of Paizo, Erik Mona and Lisa Stevens turned an utter and complete DISASTER (when the Dungeon and Dragon magazine license were not renewed) and managed to switch the company's publishing focus and brand -- ALL without skipping a beat or having to fire anybody.That's remarkable; it really, really is.From a TOTAL DISASTER to what now appears to be the manufacturer  of the currently #1 selling  RPG in the hobby games business. In less than four years. That's without coming up with  key original IP or leveraging a unique patent or other unique product concept, either. That success was realized entirely by leveraging the assets that Paizo had and putting them to their best possible advantage. Seen in that light, Paizo's success is a truly outstanding accomplishment. Over the long-term, that success is clearly not the product of chance, rather, it's the consequence of making the right choices at critical points in time where others could have made very different choices.</blockquote>

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