But microdosing -- and getting the dose wrong! -- puts him in a whole different category. That's just a fundamental inability to act sensibly in risky situations. The board doesn't need to wait for the second example.
This is the kind of incident that plays well in the press, because it generates headlines - like becoming the first word of a headline.
Do we really think that the board was so gosh-darn offended that their founder did the wrong LSD dose, once? Or, that there were long-standing disagreements over strategy, direction, and tone?
The latter is harder to justify in the normie press, so they're trying to crucify him over some minor incident.
Zhu looked at the screen and saw numbers and images swelling and shrinking, making them impossible to discern.
His body felt as if it were melting away, he says
With how long trips and the comeup take, I just have trouble understanding what kind of confidence it must take to walk in the meeting anyways and try to wing it. I would have found any excuse to sober up and get things in order before drunkely stumbling through a big pitch.
And mixing up the dosage is insanely easy with LSD, especially if you are using tabs since the LSD isn't evenly distributed throughout the paper. Also, you never really know how much LSD is on your sheet or in your vial, you just have to trust your source.
My point was that seeing visuals on a screen doesn't necessarily mean it's a large dose, especially for a first time user. Definitely not a microdose, but getting the dosage right is an art.
Did he kill someone? No. Did he lose a major customer account? No. Did he fire a top employee in a drunken rage? No.
He's under a lot of pressure and fucked up in an embarrassing way once. That doesn't mean he has a substance problem. It means he had a bad day.
If it happens a second time? Yeah, ok, now it's starting to be a track record. Third? Nuke him.
It's ok for people to fuck up sometimes
You'd probably be in trouble.
And if on top if that you would be freely talking to the press about various issues even after the board has asked you to stop it.
You'd be fired. Which is exactly what happened here.
If your company is big enough to think going public, "Let's try LSD just before a big meeting" is not exactly the kind of idea you want your CEO to have.