4 ms·
CEOs, like any other employee, are representatives of the company they're employed by. Just as if I were to post racist comments on my [Generic Social Media],
by beaker52 13y ago
CEOs, like any other employee, are representatives of the company they're employed by.
Just as if I were to post racist comments on my [Generic Social Media], my employer is going to need to do something to protect the company, because as the article points out: people (clients, customers) are judgemental, critics of gay marriage and critics of Brendan Eich included.
- madeofpalk 13y ago> CEOs, like any other employee, are representatives of the company they're employed by. Executives of companies are representatives so much more than the rest of the employees.
- jellicle 13y agoTrue. And yet normally, the CEO is immune from the consequences of her actions, while the employee risks getting fired for the slightest deviation.
- awwducks 13y agoI think the concern centers more around the perceived double standard on seemingly arbitrary issues. For instance, if Eich was a strong supporter of gay marriage, I have a hard time seeing him forced to step down. I get that gay marriage is not an "arbitrary issue" for many people, but I think the definition of what is arbitrary and what are violations of fundamental civil rights can get tricky.
- alohahacker 13y agogreat point!!
- rsynnott 13y agoLook at it this way. If he'd been funding a campaign to make a constitutional amendment to ban interracial marriage, do you think he'd have been able to keep the job? Like it or not, in the West, gay people are increasingly in the category of people who most people assume should have equal rights.
- awwducks 13y agoOf course not, but that's exactly the point. We should be able to have unpopular opinions and still be accepted in a community that emphasizes being a meritocracy, etc. Whether being forced to resign as Mozilla's CEO counts as the community rejecting him is an interesting argument.
- rsynnott 13y agoWell, I mean, the broader community does accept him, in that he's not going to be arrested for his opinions or anything. Mozilla didn't accept him, and isn't required to.
- zimpenfish 13y agoHe was accepted - at the CTO level - with his unpopular opinions - even after they became public in 2012 - for years. But there's a big difference (to me, at least) between being the CTO and the CEO. It's that step people are unhappy with.