| Solar cells are made from layers of semiconductors. They require various precious metals (for example: cadmium telluride, copper-indium selenide, gallium arsenide, light-absorbing dyes, or nanocrystals) and complex chemical reactions to go with them. If Farouk were an executive from Applied Materials company (AMAT), then maybe we could believe him when he claims he can manage the design of such a product.
But, maybe Farouk plans to buy his solar panels from China. Wait, maybe he wants Texas taxpayers to buy billions of dollars worth of finished solar cell sheets from China so that he can play around with being a brave "Captain of Industry", a role which "Hair Dryer Mogul" never quite equaled.
Even after you get the solar panel, each home owner needs an array of reliable "deep cycle" batteries to store any power the solar panel might generate on a sunny day. A group of mere car batteries will not do. Then, you need a converter to create high amp, 120 volt AC current. Will the battery array be able to run an air conditioner or a stove for more than a few nanoseconds? What does Farouk know about any of this? Nothing. He says he doesn't need to know anything, because he can simply hire experts and buy parts off the shelf.
OK, so who are the design, manufacture and distribution experts he is relying upon? Where is the bill of materials for the units he plans for us to make for him? Where are the design documents? Where will the financing come from, not only for manufacturing and distribution, but for consumer lending? Or, is all that stuff secret? If it is secret, how are we supposed to know that his plans are not the mere bluster of a buffoon?
From a business school standpoint, what is there about Farouk's background in marketing hair dryers that prepares this "CEO" to manage the production, sale and distribution of an entirely different product, in an entirely different industry and through an entirely different market channel?
Would AMD ask Farouk to take over semiconductor manufacturing, just because he knows how to sell hair dryers to vain ladies? Has he even been asked to join the board of directors of even one single high tech company? If not, where does he get the arrogance, the contemptuousness, the effrontery to pretend he has this type of expertise?
Farouk says no one will have a power bill if he is governor, because everyone will have solar panels. What about apartment dwellers? What about people whose houses don't feature a roof facing the south without obstruction?
Farouk is a pompous, arrogant fool. Michael Dell, for example, has never pretended that he could snap his fingers and create a second new industry from scratch. Michael Dell started selling computers made from off the shelf components to college kids when he was 20. He built his original new industry by trial and error over decades. He knows better than to claim he can merely snap his fingers and employ hundreds of thousands of people in a new industry. And, Michael Dell has a lot more experience making and selling a high tech product than Farouk.
Of course, Michael Dell has never suggested that his considerable success in the direct marketing of personal computers qualifies him to be Governor. Yet, with far less credentials, Farouk claims both: (1) Create a huge new industry from scratch, and (2) run the State of Texas.
Farouk resists every effort to explain what tools and capabilities exist in the Governor's office adequate to magically transform the employment picture in Texas.
In fact, Farouk knows absolutely nothing about public sector leadership. He is merely looking for personal affirmation. He offers to pay a paltry $10 million out of his billions if he fails, which is sheer arrogance and braggadocio.
Farouk is dissatisfied with being a big man in hair dryers. He finds that merely being fabulously wealthy making a low tech product in a tiny niche market has not earned him the level of respect that he craves.
Farouk's hair dryer empire is not even respected by men like Michael Dell.
Farouk knows of no other way to get respect but to run for Governor. He knows he would fall on his face if he attempted a start up company in any industry other than hair dryers. So, having no hope of starting a new industry without government subsidies, he seeks affirmation in the highest political office he is allowed to seek.
The truth is, Farouk's frantic quest for self-affirmation should be pursued on a psychiatrists couch, not in the state house. His wild exaggerations have become pathological.
The last thing we need in the governor's office is another braggart, liar, and pathologically disturbed power seeker. |
