Word: pittman
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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Case and Robert Pittman, chief executive of AOL Networks, are working to make AOL even easier. They hope to capture the mindless simplicity of a television: on, off, a channel tuner. AOL says, for instance, that 60% of the calls that spill into its help center come from people who are having basic computer problems--not difficulties with AOL. And many of the problems float around the "Is it plugged in, sir?" level of difficulty. Of AOL's 7,500 employees, more than half spend their days on the phone helping customers. And they get an earful: AOL customers...
...Pittman, who helped build MTV from a low-budget cable channel into an empire of hair and attitude, believes in that consumerist approach. He's fond, for instance, of telling the story of the time when, as CEO of Six Flags, he spent time working as a street sweeper in pursuit of a broom's-eye-view of its New Jersey theme park. Pittman has an intense charm that makes him a natural for AOL's dichotomous culture, where V.P.s brag alternately about late nights and mountain-biking exploits. "I've spent my whole life building brands," he says...
...community. No question: some clients were inept fools and a danger to everyone. Mountaineering was in danger of becoming an extreme sport for the rich, with gaudy adventure-travel stunts such as being guided up the highest mountain on each continent. A New York society woman named Sandy Hill Pittman was on hand to complete this cycle, along with masses of electronic equipment lugged by Sherpas, including a satellite phone with which she intended to file Internet dispatches from Camp Four, at 26,000 ft. Did she deserve to be mocked for her pretensions or admired for her pluck? (Pittman...
...recklessness. Hall's successful Adventure Consultants was being crowded by newer ventures, notably the Mountain Madness service of Scott Fischer, a skilled American climber. There was powerful pressure for them to ignore their turnaround times, beyond which it was foolish to continue heading upward. Fischer told Krakauer that if Pittman reached the summit, she was certain to boast about it on New York talk shows...
...trained as a teacher; we wing it, and get our inner-city kids into New England's best high schools. The job is intellectually challenging--I still get to talk about literature every day, but now I get to plug it into real life. For these kids, Jane Pittman is their grandmother, and The Outsiders happens across the street...