He’s a marketer and his job is to generate attention and surface up business development opportunities.
I would not want to sit next to the guy on a long plane ride but I think he deserves some credit for doing his thing well.
If you don’t put much credence in his actual work, at least consider that he made up a role for himself where he doesn’t have much competition and probably has profited handsomely.
I just don't quite understand what his role was. I know the New Yorker is verging on satire here... but is this just so close to reality that when I try to understand I am missing it?