Mao Zedong

Chinese revolutionary. Made a Chinese version of MarxismIdeology.

Also had one of the longest radio eulogies I've ever heard. Three days' worth, at least, on English-language shortwave broadcast. -- PeteHardie

Also a profoundly mentally-ill pervert dedicated to never ever washing his privates, and spreading his STD to young female followers at the rate of one a week, if you believe the biography written by his long-suffering personal physician... -- PhlIp

I am a Chinese; to China, MaoZedong is a great man. ZhangXiangDong? is a pig.

Was he the one who killed 3,000 students protesting for human rights? -- PhlIp

He killed one million times more people than you say, now there is his successor:

JiangZeMin XiaoYiQiang NingWei JiangQing? is his wife YangXvDong is his father

Boy, you guys sure take this population control issue seriously! -- PhlIp

I am a Chinese; to me, Mao is absolutely a great leader in the history of the world, some people said that Mao is greater than Napoleon, and Washington. If you are not a Chinese, you will never know that what he did is truly for our Chinese people and China; if you have not reached some kind of level, you will never understand Mao.

[A level that low is no way to go.]

How does being Chinese give you some kind of inside track? I'm Australian and I don't understand Keating. I have worked with Britons who do not understand Blair and Russians who did not understand Kruschev. What makes you think you understand Mao?

Top of the most dysfunctional management hierarchy of the 20th century. During the GreatLeapForward, he encouraged/mandated ridiculously overblown predictions for agricultural output. Communes were rewarded for promising bigger harvests than other communes, creating an arms race of lies. Crops were uprooted and replanted along the roads Chairman Mao travelled during inspections to keep up the illusion (and ruined in the process). Central planners allocated resources based on the imaginary harvests, leaving over 20 million to starve to death.

He did the same thing for industrial output, setting steel production goals that were far beyond the nation's abilities. Peasants melted down their cooking utensils in backyard forges to meet the goals, but were left with lumps of useless iron and no pots.

What does this have to do with SoftwareDevelopment? If you've ever worked in an environment that rewarded unrealistic promises, you'll understand.

CategoryPerson