from Hacker News

CEO's LinkedIn crying selfie about layoffs met with backlash

by Freddie111 on 8/11/22, 9:19 AM with 95 comments

• by senttoschool on 8/11/22, 9:35 AM

  It was cringe. When I first saw it, I couldn't make it past the first few sentences. He turned layoffs into a marketing post for his company or at least it appeared so since his company does LinkedIn content consulting. Hence, people didn't think it was genuine. And many commentators were right that he made it about himself.

  People making the layoffs need to stop saying things like "I take responsibility. I made the choices. It was my fault". Saying this is an insult to the rest of the company and to the people being laid off. It's the company's responsibility. Hiring and firing is not a one-man show. If it is, then you're micromanaging. It also insults the people getting laid off because you're making it about you, as if you get to hire and fire anyone at anytime. If you truly take all the responsibility and blame, then set your compensation to $0 or much lower and keep as many employees as possible.

  Apologize to the employees leaving as a company. Explain why. Tell them what happens next. Apologize again.

  Don't insult them by making it about yourself.

• by mrtksn on 8/11/22, 10:58 AM

  The moment I saw it, it reminded me the Gavin Belson speech[0] from Silicon Valley about firing a team in his company. Life imitates art I guess.

  [0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u48vYSLvKNQ

• by benjaminwootton on 8/11/22, 10:50 AM

  LinkedIn used to be so valuable. I owe a lot to it in terms of jobs, generating business, knowledge and networking.

  Since the pandemic though it’s really become a cesspit of virtue signalling and attention seeking. It’s just people and companies shouting over each other for likes.

  I am convinced it’s not a worthwhile use of time to engage with it for more than say 10 minutes a week.

  I closed my account and don’t miss it one iota.

• by gjulianm on 8/11/22, 10:40 AM

  The weirdest thing about this is not the post itself but the reactions of some people. I saw a lot of comments that argued not only that the post was authentic , brave and well made but that any criticism came from a place of bitterness, envy, hate, unhappiness, lack of empathy or all of the above. I get that different people will have different opinions about the post and I understand how some might view it as authentic, but I really don't understand the mechanism to completely dismiss all criticism because "it's bitter people".

• by simonswords82 on 8/11/22, 11:03 AM

  I just cannot imagine any situation where I would make a call as CEO that the correct and sane thing for me to do is take a photo of myself crying and post it on social media.

• by altdataseller on 8/11/22, 10:23 AM

  Cynically, i think he accomplished what he probably set out to accomplish: get more publicity and attention. Sure some of it is negative, but he also probably got a lot of ppl Googling his company and some might become customers. He’s the CEO of a marketing company after all.

• by gk1 on 8/11/22, 12:19 PM

  It's odd for this article not to mention the company's size and the number of people laid off. From what I can tell, this is a local marketing agency with 12 (now 10?) people. We're not talking about a CEO of a XXX-person company with $XX million in funding.

  I wonder how people's reactions and intensities would differ if they knew we're talking about a small business basically the size of your local bakery.

  (Don't get me wrong, I think this is pretty cringe, but I feel like many people are venting their feelings about big-tech CEOs onto this guy.)

• by Aeolun on 8/11/22, 10:24 AM

  I don’t understand why you would ever think this is a good idea? There is no way to post a crying selfie on any form of social media without making it a form of attention seeking.

  If you are going to do this as a form of damage control, at least have someone else post a ‘surreptitious shot’ of the CEO crying after layoffs.

• by jollybean on 8/11/22, 10:24 AM

  Even if it was perfectly authentic it'd still be cringe.

  If someone on your company dies, that you knew personally, and you're making a statement about it, ok, maybe.

  Otherwise, get a grip.

  For me it's a fail on all fronts, lacking in authenticity, shallow attempt to gain empathy, marketing trick and sadly melodramatic, over sentimental.

  Go out there, explain what the problem is, assume some degree of responsibility without saying things like 'it's all my fault', do not be overly familiar (i.e. 'we are all family!'), but don't be a jerk and get on with it.

• by halotrope on 8/11/22, 12:10 PM

  This really reminds me of that bit from Luis C.K where people annyoed by crying babies make it about themselves.

  "I have two daughters and both of them at one time were babies and I held them and they cried on planes. It’s happened to me, I’ve had a baby on a plane. If you’re ever- This is how selfish people are. When you’re on a plane and you hear a baby crying, you think that’s happening to you.

  You’re like, “Ugh, this is gonna ruin my flight! It’s gonna ruin it!” Well, look at the parent, ’cause that person is holding a crying baby on a plane, which means they’ve been traveling with a baby all day, which means they have a baby, okay? So their life isn’t even good. They don’t like anything. Their whole life is, ugh, Jesus! If there’s any joy for them, it’s that this is now bothering other people. “Yeah, you listen to this shit now!” Waah!"

• by bedhead on 8/11/22, 11:29 AM

  Everyone else seems to have covered how cringe this was, how inauthentic it was, how this guy just made it about himself, etc. All true. I would add that I don’t see how a person this weak could ever be a successful leader/CEO. Sorry man, it’s a tough gig, suck it up and stop (pretending?) being so weak that you can’t handle it. Is this what people want in a boss/CEO??? I find it pathetic. Guy has zero business running anything or anyone.

• by redhal on 8/11/22, 11:20 AM

  This reminded me of a recent post about using cute error messages to enhance the user experience. I feel like many of the arguments translate here as well (more expressive "error messages", texbook empathy vs real empathy...), so I'm linking the discussion post: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32337520

• by mouzogu on 8/11/22, 11:22 AM

  I can't tell if the internet has exposed narcissists or created them, or maybe both.

• by paulgb on 8/11/22, 10:33 AM

  > a company specializing in optimizing LinkedIn posts, has been criticized after posting a crying selfie of himself on a LinkedIn post

  And got press pickup from it. Everybody in the media (really, everybody on social media) should read Trust Me I’m Lying by Ryan Holiday. It talks about how companies plant negative media stories about themselves for publicity (from the pov of someone who has done it).

• by ralmidani on 8/11/22, 12:34 PM

  This was, indeed, very cringe.

  While his company is small, I think at a larger tech startup’s scale there might be some things you could do to avoid being “forced” to lay people off:

  - Avoid taking VC money. This will force you to be disciplined and responsible even when everyone is bullish, while also avoiding having to do layoffs/pay cuts/freezes/etc. during a bear market when profits dip. As long as the company remains viable, you can ride out the storm and not have to listen to investors and “advisors”.

  - Somewhat related, don’t go on hiring sprees. If you poach someone from another company because your idea is one “rockstar” away from taking off (it always is, isn’t it?), that employee may no longer be able to rejoin the old company, and when laid off may resent having being convinced to join your company. Hire responsibly and sustainably, otherwise people’s lives will inevitably get ruined.

  - Always set an example by not having extravagant salaries, bonuses, and perks for yourself and your leadership team.

  - If you’re a business owner, dedicate a decent percentage of profits that flows back to employees. They are taking a risk by working for a startup, so they should get a share of the upside, as well.

  - If money does become tight, “taking responsibility” means freezing/cutting your own salary first, then those of other executives, and so on. You won’t die if you have to forego the Benz for an Accord, but employees with a beat-up Civic will definitely feel the pain if you start with them.

  - If worse comes to worst and you can’t avoid layoffs, doing all of the above will reduce resentment. Doing the layoffs in a humane, empathetic manner and offering counseling and job placement help is the right thing to do, and can leave a lasting impression on your former employees and the general public.

• by tpoacher on 8/11/22, 12:41 PM

  The whole affair reminded me of this gif meme of Woody Harrelson "crying" and wiping his tears with dollar bills: https://media1.tenor.com/images/4663eb72e9f59cd3dbc3a60bc5aa...

• by mediumsmart on 8/11/22, 10:59 AM

  The key to success is sincerity, once you can fake that you've got it made.

• by raxxorraxor on 8/15/22, 10:05 AM

  > It's incredibly powerful of you to be vulnerable and put your feelings out there

  People that say this are quick to demand you to cry when THEY expect it. Doesn't have to do anything with empathy. Perhaps it is good for marketing indeed.

  To be honest, if I were laid of and see my former boss crying about it I would have mixed feelings too.

• by throw_m239339 on 8/11/22, 11:52 AM

  What a farce, this guy couldn't care less about the employees he fired, but he put on this ridiculous show to act like a victim. Let's see what tricks all these companies about to fire employees resort to in the era of tiktok and "inclusivity" in order not to loose their "good guy" badge... fake and pathetic all the way.

  For Facebook and Google the narrative is already set: "suddenly too much dead weight", trying to shame them 'lazy' employees...

• by encryptluks2 on 8/11/22, 9:59 AM

  At least they followed the norm of most posts on LinkedIn. I am so glad I deleted LinkedIn at this point. The posts in my feed were so inauthentic.

• by nsmog767 on 8/11/22, 10:11 AM

  To me, this actually highlights how we like to vilify individuals who are emblematic of a larger trend - to make ourselves feel better (while ignoring the disturbing or ridiculous 'norm').

  I saw this post around when it came out; I thought it was ridiculous, but not even top-5 cringe on LI for the day. How many of the people slamming this guy are authors of 10s or 100s of histrionic self-laudatory posts that try to deliver some big lesson? It's all gross. Don't act like this guy is uniquely terrible!

  It reminds me of how Americans love to point to the outrageous actions of other countries as a way to whitewash our own sordid past...but I digress!

• by robertwt7 on 8/11/22, 10:52 AM

  So cringe. I don’t understand how people want to post this on LinkedIn

• by retSava on 8/11/22, 10:05 AM

  Obligatory subreddit recommendation: /r/linkedinlunatics

• by robofanatic on 8/11/22, 11:17 AM

  It's sad to see how the world passes negative judgement on how a guy should or should not express his emotions without knowing him personally.

• by ddfitb on 8/11/22, 12:18 PM

  Classic narcissistic move.