The jaw-dropping CEO moments this 12 months (File)
One other 12 months, one other limitless information cycle pushed by the world’s high company executives, with moments starting from cringe-worthy to downright weird.
Whereas some CEOs appeared to relish the highlight, Elon Musk chief amongst them, others had been inadvertently thrust into social media’s harsh glare.
Listed here are a number of the most high-profile administration misadventures:
The Muskiest second
Of all of the jaw-dropping Musk moments this 12 months, the top got here on stage on the New York Instances DealBook Summit when he advised advertisers which have stopped spending on X to go “f-” themselves. “Hey Bob, in the event you’re within the viewers” he added, calling out Bob Iger, the CEO of Walt Disney Co. – one firm amongst many who distanced itself after Musk endorsed an antisemitic put up in November.
Nonetheless, if advertisers depart X, the platform’s failure shall be their fault, not his, Musk mentioned, calling their retreat a type of blackmail. He mentioned he will not “faucet dance” to show he is reliable.
Billionaire cage match bluff
In June, Musk challenged Mark Zuckerberg to what maybe passes for a duel in 2023, posting on X: “I am up for a cage match if he’s lol.” The peculiar invitation got here shortly after information surfaced that Meta Platforms Inc. was set to launch Threads as a competitor to X.
Zuckerberg, who practices Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, readily agreed. Musk marketed a showdown in Vegas in August, after which began a rumor it would really be staged within the Colosseum in Rome, which Italy’s tradition minister promptly debunked. However Musk started making excuses because the summer time weeks slid by, saying he would possibly want surgical procedure for his neck/again/shoulder. Zuckerberg ultimately referred to as his bluff, saying it was “time to maneuver on.”
The struggle shall be managed by my and Zuck’s foundations (not UFC).
Livestream shall be on this platform and Meta. All the things in digital camera body shall be historic Rome, so nothing fashionable in any respect.
I spoke to the PM of Italy and Minister of Tradition. They’ve agreed on an epic location.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 11, 2023
OpenAI’s about-face
The abrupt firing and rehiring of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman by the board performed out over the course of a protracted weekend. The entire thing was fairly weird, with a number of the drama unfolding on social media. Between offended buyers and workers, nearly all of whom threatened to give up, the board beat a hasty retreat.
As rumors swirled that he would possibly return, Altman posted a photograph of himself on the San Francisco workplace carrying a visitor badge: “first and final time i ever put on one among these.” In an particularly unusual twist, one of many ouster’s leaders, OpenAI co-founder and Chief Scientist Ilya Sutskever, later recanted and pledged to “do every part” he may to reunite the corporate. Altman replied with three pink hearts.
I deeply remorse my participation within the board’s actions. I by no means meant to hurt OpenAI. I like every part we have constructed collectively and I’ll do every part I can to reunite the corporate.
— Ilya Sutskever (@ilyasut) November 20, 2023
The view from Acapulco
When Stellantis NV and UAW management met in August, Mark Stewart, the corporate’s chief working officer for North America wasn’t bodily current – he Zoomed in from Acapulco, Mexico, the place he has a second house. That did not go over nicely with staff who resented the chief’s calls for workers to mood bargaining calls for within the identify of financial realism.
The UAW’s deft new communications staff – which incorporates veterans of Senator Bernie Sanders’ runs for the Democratic nomination for president – seized on the fake pas. Professional-union social media accounts later unfold footage and photographs of a sunglasses-wearing Stewart smiling by the seashore. He made it to the subsequent assembly in particular person.
Stellantis COO Mark Stewart actually despatched an e mail in the present day to the corporate’s workers telling them they wanted to tone down their bargaining calls for within the identify of “financial realism.” Seems he despatched the e-mail from his second mansion in a elaborate resort city in Mexico. https://t.co/mgv67913fg
— Chris Brooks (@chactivist) August 11, 2023
Depart “pity metropolis” behind
A brief video of workplace furnishings maker MillerKnoll Inc. CEO Andi Owen chastising workers for fixating on end-of-year bonuses ricocheted across the web in April. “Spend your time and your effort interested by the $26 million we want, and never interested by what are you going to do if you aren’t getting a bonus,” Owen mentioned within the video, referring to an inside metric. “I had an previous boss who mentioned to me one time, ‘You may go to pity metropolis, however you’ll be able to’t reside there.’ So folks, depart pity metropolis.”
Owen despatched an e mail to workers and met with leaders throughout the corporate after the backlash, based on an individual acquainted with the state of affairs. “Andi fiercely believes on this staff and all we will accomplish collectively, and won’t be dissuaded by a 90-second clip taken out of context and posted on social media,” MillerKnoll spokesperson Kris Marubio mentioned in an emailed assertion.
Administration’s therapeutic massage time
In October, Tony Fernandes, co-founder of AirAsia and a high govt there, went to LinkedIn to put up an image of himself, shirtless, getting a therapeutic massage whereas sitting at a convention room desk. “Obtained to like Indonesia and AirAsia tradition that I can have a therapeutic massage and do a administration assembly,” he wrote. On-line followers shortly spoke out, with some commentators calling it inappropriate for an govt to bask in bare-chested private care whereas additionally purportedly working the corporate. One particular person mentioned she did not suppose girls at his firm “could be comfy or protected on this context, and given you are the boss, they probably will not problem you or say something.”
Fernandes mentioned he’d simply endured an 18-hour flight and was in ache, and that the therapeutic massage was a spontaneous suggestion by someone within the Indonesia operation. He deleted the put up whereas apologizing: “I did not imply to offend anybody.”
Not sufficient discretion with an indiscretion
BP Plc CEO Bernard Looney resigned in September over the failure to completely disclose previous relationships with colleagues, forfeiting as a lot as £32.4 million ($41.4 million) in pay. BP mentioned on the time that its board reviewed allegations referring to Looney’s previous private relationships with colleagues in 2022, discovering no breaches of the corporate’s code of conduct. However then additional allegations of an identical nature got here to mild, and Looney knowledgeable the corporate that he hadn’t been totally clear with the earlier investigation, the corporate mentioned.
On his exit, Looney mentioned in an announcement he was “proud” of what he achieved as CEO, however was “dissatisfied with the way in which this case has been dealt with.” BP would not prohibit govt relationships. The brand new interim CEO, Murray Auchincloss, can also be in a relationship with one other BP worker, an organization spokesperson mentioned on the time, however had disclosed it beforehand.
The flight should go on
United Airways Holdings Inc. canceled 751 flights on in the future in June – greater than every other airline – and its hub airport in Denver was among the many hardest hit. However CEO Scott Kirby was capable of bypass the congestion by taking a non-public jet to Denver from Teterboro Airport in New Jersey that day, prompting an apology.
“Taking a non-public jet was the mistaken determination as a result of it was insensitive to our clients who had been ready to get house,” Kirby mentioned in an emailed assertion. “I sincerely apologize to our clients and our staff members who’ve been working around-the-clock for a number of days – usually by means of extreme climate – to care for our clients.”
Not parting with that paycheck
Former Silicon Valley Financial institution CEO Greg Becker refused to decide to giving up his $10 million pay after the financial institution collapsed in March. Lawmakers identified that the financial institution failures price the federal government’s bedrock deposit insurance coverage fund billions of {dollars}, which should be replenished by different lenders.
Although he took the brunt of the criticism, Becker advised the Senate Banking Committee that unprecedented occasions, interest-rate hikes and unfavourable social media protection slightly than mismanagement had been the foundation causes of the agency’s demise. Becker mentioned he’d work with regulators to assessment compensation, however would not pledge to provide something again regardless of being pressed repeatedly to take action.
The HBO troll
Casey Bloys, CEO of HBO and Max content material, apologized for utilizing pretend X accounts to troll TV critics who gave unhealthy evaluations to the community’s exhibits, based on a report within the Los Angeles Instances. Based on the Instances, Bloys mentioned his ardour for his firm’s programming – and an excessive amount of time on social media through the Covid-19 pandemic – led him to do it and he concluded it was “a really, very dumb thought.”
The posts, first reported in Rolling Stone, had been surfaced in a wrongful termination lawsuit filed by a former HBO worker. Bloys apologized to the journalists named within the article and mentioned he now sends direct messages to these he disagrees with.
Pre-pink slip digital detox
Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff says he took a 10-day journey to French Polynesia for a so-called digital detox forward of the corporate’s mass layoff of about 8,000 workers. A digital detox is when somebody forgoes telephones or computer systems for a time period to really feel extra current and fewer depending on expertise and social media.
In a letter to workers on the time, Benioff mentioned the corporate employed too many staff through the pandemic, which he took duty for. However Benioff additionally appeared tone-deaf, arriving late to a gathering the day after the layoff, joking, “did I miss one thing?” Some identified the irony of the sudden job cuts subsequent to Benioff’s frequent characterization of the corporate as an Ohana, a Hawaiian time period for household.
