As I sat in the lounge at the John F. Kennedy airport, I sat a few seats over from a guy on the phone. Like many who find themselves eavesdropping, I listened in and began to piece together the conversation and guess who the conversation could be about. Sometimes the conversations that I overhear in the airport range from being joyful or painful as people return to or depart from their home bases.
However, this conversation I heard was more unique than others but still felt familiar. On my right, the guy on the phone continued to go on and on talking about meeting the objectives and KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) of stakeholders, increasing profitability after market testing their pricing structure and meeting the goals his predecessor had not met the last few quarters. Then I heard him say, and I quote,
“Those three on the team are just deadwood and I will be taking care of that”
He then went into detail about each person by name what was going on in their personal lives, which included an employee with a physical illness, an employee with depression and anxiety, and the third employee just “maybe was not a good fit” for the company. I was appalled and stared deeply into my monitor and tried to pretend like I was still working, but I had turned my attention 100% to what he was saying. When he hung up the phone, I stood up and went to the bathroom. When I return, I approached him and asked, “Are you a Founder?” Being familiar to the startup world, his ranting sounded like he was indeed a part of a frenetic start up, and I thought this was something we could potentially find common ground on. Especially, given that after overhearing his conversation, there was little else we would have in common.
He looked at me and said, “No, I just took over as the CEO of a mid-sized tech firm.” I responded, “It sounds like you are having some challenges” and he responded, “Yeah, I was talking to a Board Member and that is what they want to hear,” I leaned over and said,
“If a board member of mine heard me talk like that about people who work for me, they would find a way to get rid of me and yours should too.”
With that, I took my roller bag and walked away, hoping that message would sit with our villainous CEO.
We hear about the problematic CEO all the time, but we rarely see it play out in public. Anyone who has ever managed or led people has faced similar people challenges and it is not easy – but to hear the blatant lack of compassion from someone anointed as a leader reminded me that we need to do better every day and lead in a way we wish we were led in some of our darkest days.
