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It's fascinating to me the extent to which executives don't consider themselves "public figures" when it comes to potential downsides, but they do in terms of u
by BobaFloutist 3y ago
It's fascinating to me the extent to which executives don't consider themselves "public figures" when it comes to potential downsides, but they do in terms of upsides.
It feels so obvious to me that the CEO of such a high-profile org should at the very least quickly check public-facing social media posts against someone sensible, if not laundering them all through the experts at their org. But somehow they keep making these mistakes over and over again.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- bloopernova 3y agoThe battlecry of the executive: "Rules for thee but none for me"
- bko 3y agoIsn't it the reverse though? If a not notable person tweeted this stuff, it would have blown over and no one would have cared. But since he is notable it becomes a story I think that was the point of the parents "public figures" comment
- aaomidi 3y agoIt's their battlecry, not necessarily in tune with reality.
- toomuchtodo 3y ago> Isn't it the reverse though? If a not notable person tweeted this stuff, it would have blown over and no one would have cared. But since he is notable it becomes a story This is not borne out by historical events. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/So_You%27ve_Been_Publicly_Shamed https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/So_You%27ve_Been_Publicly_Sham...
- syrgian 3y agoIf a non-notable person tweeted this, they might have lost their livelihood.
- s1artibartfast 3y agoThey might, or they might be one of thousands of people on a tuesday
- bko 3y agoUm... Have you been on Twitter lately?
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- hnthrowaway6543 3y agoCancel mobs for stuff like this for Joe Average may have worked in 2018, but now are effectively over. It's equals parts a post-ZIRP cultural shift of companies no longer pretending to care about DEI, a post-Elon Twitter cultural shift for what's seen as acceptable, and a post-Oct 7 shift where, frankly, companies are now scared shitless to take political stances in general because of how sensitive the topic of the current war in the middle east is.
- rchaud 3y agoHow would it have blown over? Normal people with jobs lose them all the time due to making idiotic comments online that get back to their employer. Note that I say "idiotic comments", not outright " F U and die" comments as is the case here.
- j2kun 3y agoI'm sure his company's legal staff has reminded his employees to not engage in political action while appearing to represent their company. My company sure does.
- roughly 3y agoNo, see, tech CEOs are all brilliant brain geniuses, and any attempt or notion to run their ideas or behavior past experienced professionals is nothing but a sop to outdated traditions which risks not just slowing them down, but by extension slowing all of humanity down and condemning literally uncountable future generations to darkness and death! Is that what you’re advocating for? The premature deaths of uncounted billions? You monster.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- lainga 3y ago“We believe any deceleration of my tweeting will cost lives. Deaths that were preventable by the tweet that was prevented from existing is a form of murder.” (with no apology and copious reference of Arkell v. Pressdram to Mr. Andreessen)
- zozbot234 3y agoNot sure if serious or just "e/acc"...
- ativzzz 3y agoMany CEOs are regular people who happen to be overtly charismatic to a fault. It just so happens that overtly charismatic people tend to be rewarded greatly by our social structures These CEOs aren't doing anything different in these situations - they're being themselves and doing what they did to get their position. Other people generally don't call them out on their BS because it's an uphill battle fighting overtly charismatic people, and it's much easier to accept their flaws for the benefit of riding their coattails to the top This is why they can't differentiate between upsides/downsides - people let them get away with things that other people can't, and to them it is all the same
- mvdtnz 3y agoI've never heard of Garry Tan before just now, but he didn't strike me as "overtly charismatic" in the linked article. He struck me as incredibly unhinged and unlikeable.
- trust_bt_verify 3y agoThose are not mutually exclusive in my experience.
- krapp 3y ago"unhinged and unlikeable" are charismatic traits nowadays. Those are exactly the personality aspects people believe are necessary and find attractive in truly innovative leaders, like Steve Jobs and Elon Musk. They read as hard-nosed sincerity and truth, no bullshit. The unreasonable man to which the world must yield. Hell, we recently elected a President almost entirely because he was the biggest asshole in the room.
- shiroiuma 3y ago>Hell, we recently elected a President almost entirely because he was the biggest asshole in the room. Speak for yourself. This seems to be mostly an American problem.
- 3y ago
- rchaud 3y agoIt's the new spin on "I want the President to be someone I can have a beer with." Quoting 2Pac lyrics is just comical. Even more out of touch than Ben Horowitz (of Andreessen Horowitz) starting every chapter of his ultra-corporate startup book with Jay-Z lyrics.
- dboreham 3y agoBen is a long-time (life long?) rap lyric afficionado and in that respect actually quite "in-touch".
- westhanover 3y ago[flagged]
- j2kun 3y agoI think you misunderstood the meaning of "out of touch" in this context.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- sjwhevvvvvsj 3y agoYeah, nothing says “digging in the crates” more than quoting the most mainstream possible artist in a genre. Give me DOOM lyrics or GTFO.
- thefaux 3y agoI see your DOOM and raise Viktor Vaughn :)
- skeeter2020 3y agowhat exactly is a "rap lyric aficionado"? He's about as in-touch as an Ivy-league academic studying poverty is with living in rural Appalachia.
- lawgimenez 3y ago
- tshaddox 3y agoI suppose I can't disagree with the advise you're providing, although I'm a little troubled by the implication that the problem here is simply that he didn't send this vile rant to his social media team to proofread before he posted it.
- zozbot234 3y agoHe's literally the CEO of YC, and news.yc is social-media adjacent at least. What he posted would not pass mustard here.
- throwanem 3y ago'Pass muster,' the figure drawn from the military practice of mustering (gathering) troops for inspection of their uniform, equipment, and personal grooming. Unsatisfactory presentation can result in being sent away to fix it, usually repeatedly and at length while being smoked by an NCO, to help you remember not to make the same mistake again. When this occurs, the one so dismissed has failed to pass muster.
- skeeter2020 3y agoI think he meant "If he offered me the mustard, I'd tell him to go to hell"
- shiroiuma 3y agoWhat if it's Grey Poupon?
- mattwoodnyc 3y agoGary Poupon?
- dgfitz 3y agoI think the point was more that sending it to a team would have hopefully resulted in it not being posted at all.
- duxup 3y agoI've worked for several big companies where the CEO wanted people to ask tough questions at big meetings from the rank and file and so on. Front line managers had to prompt employees to ask question so it wasn't just awkward silence. It's telling executives would think people would just ask tough questions on demand. It of course costs the CEO nothing to provide everyone else at the company tough questions / feedback, employees though need to consider their words carefully depending on who at a company is listening as there can be real consequences. It's one of those things that I'm sure seems like it makes the executive look "open", but rather it just shows their ignorance / are out of touch with the life of a rando worker. Not a surprise that kind of unawareness leaks out of the workplace as they operate in a space where they are often relatively free to speak their mind.
- BobaFloutist 3y agoThe other thing is, there's no guarantee that a CEO that genuinely wants the rank and file to ask tough questions still won't instantly fire someone for the wrong tough question. Some CEOs are all about wanting to be challenged and pushed back by their employees until someone accidentally hits a nerve on a bad day, and there's very little recourse for most employees in the US if they get fired because they pissed off the executives.
- JohnFen 3y agoYes, this. It's a clear and obvious trap.
- skeeter2020 3y agoMy Boss (the CTO at a mid-sized company) says he really appreciates my candor and ability to ask challenging questions, but based on his reactions when I do so I'm pretty sure what he actually really likes the IDEA of being an executive who invites diverse and dissenting input, more than having people do it.
- plasticchris 3y agoTo be generous, sometimes how one feels in the moment is different than how one feels when given time to reflect. So it may be that your boss really does appreciate it (just not right then).
- treflop 3y agoHumans run the gamut. Sure there are humans that stickerbomb a tie die hatchback or go on Joe Rogan but then you got your human that lives a private life and drives a gray crossover.
- bilbo0s 3y agoEver notice how most of them never even joke about certain things? Like, say, death threats? I'd be willing to bet that a lot of humans go their entire lives without joking about death threats.
- jnovek 3y agoI'm a YC alum and it's an important bullet point on my resume. I would rather YC leadership kept their political positions to themselves as much as is reasonably possible. It dilutes the value of that bullet point -- I want it to communicate things about my work ethic and competency. I don't want it to imply _anything_ about my political opinions. I don't have a problem with tech leaders holding political positions, nor do I have a problem with them making personal donations based on those opinions. Quietly.
- hjiud 3y ago[dead]
- throwawaymaths 3y agoWhy the double standard? Why should or shouldn't it be couth for someone to talk about their political positions? Everyone is a human, and you don't get anything done in politics unless there is mass action, which means we must have conversations, public AND private, about politics. I'm sorry, if you are like "I'm glad they gave me the money and the label" and can't take it when someone associated makes an embarassing human moment, you are just trying to have your cake and eat it too. Do better.
- smoldesu 3y agoI don't think the parent wants to eat their cake and have it too; they're torn between having the credentials or abandoning them because it's embarassing. And who can blame them? I've never said the words "Y Combinator" outside the West coast and got a positive reaction. YC can have political opinions, but they should acknowledge the opportunity cost of putting their politics before their community. Behavior like the one linked in the OP is incredibly petty and probably should make the associated parties feel bad about working with that kind of person. Lord knows I feel ashamed to be an HN user today.
- skeeter2020 3y agobecause they want the signal to come from what YC has accomplished and represents, not the personal opinions of someone associated with them who's leveraging his unrelated benefits in a socially very unacceptable way.
- crowcroft 3y agoThey want the power, but not the responsibility.
- not2b 3y agoHe said he was drunk when he posted the rant calling for slow death of most of the San Francisco city council, so of course he didn't send it to corporate PR to check. This kind of behavior shouldn't be acceptable for the head of a respectable corporation, even if his tweet hadn't led others to follow up with death threats. He should resign or be dismissed and YC should replace him with a responsible adult. This isn't a minor offense, it is grotesque. If he remains, it reflects very badly on YC.
- shiroiuma 3y agoObviously, YC is not a "respectable organization", since they picked this fruitcake as their leader. This also explains why a portion of the readership of this site is so obviously unhinged.
- mensetmanusman 3y agoIf you judge someone based on their worst day, you won't live a very happy life.
- angus-prune 3y agoIf you expect not to be judged for your worst behaviour, then everyone around you won't live a happy life.
- not2b 3y agoPeople suffer consequences for their worst day all the time. Ordinary workers who engage in this kind of conduct usually get fired, often followed by police investigation, and they aren't judged for the days that they didn't bring their companies into disrepute by calling for the death of public officials. A CEO should be held to a higher standard, not a lower standard.
- cdchn 3y agoHe's not being judged by what he said on his worst day, its his worst day because he is being judged by what he said on just another day to him.
- HumblyTossed 3y ago> It's fascinating to me the extent to which executives don't consider themselves "public figures" when it comes to potential downsides, but they do in terms of upsides. Really? Because they are all about upsides. "My initiatives led to 1,500,000 new bank accounts opened in the last 3 quarters!" Vs. "I didn't have any knowledge that the 1,450,000 new bank accounts were opened fraudulently!"
- spacemadness 3y agoThat’s what most business “leaders” do. When the money is rolling in they are visionaries, when the money is threatened it’s the economy and time for layoffs. So anything good is their doing, anything bad and it’s time to deflect.
- 1vuio0pswjnm7 3y agoBased on that tweet, this person does not fit any definition of "executive" that I would subscribe to.