The guy seems incredibly driven, doing all sorts of stuff to improve access for people with disabilities, for instance. I'd assume Twitter was dysfunctional before this guy was.
I believe him when he says he was asking for work and nobody gave him anything to do. I've had that happen to me many times at the "best" tech companies. Yes not having work to give people is a valid reason to lay someone off but not to publicly humiliate them and be cruel.
Twitter acquired his company and kept him on as an employee. A lot of times founders end up having to coast because the buyer is still trying to sort out how to merge the tech. The founder is basically on garden leave/on-call tech support until a strategy is in place. Some never get there, vest a few years, and start a new company.
They kept him on as ‘senior director’ in his words. I think the senior directors in my company are quite capable as senior directors setting strategy, priority, creating valuable work environments and sometimes add some value in tactics and logistics. Never, ever are they to do any work. Don’t let them touch customers, processes or god forbid use any tooling. It’s been decades for the most of them. De facto demotion is a sorry excuse for firing with a good package. Notable exception for the phase nearing retirement where awesome firms put these types in risk management and audit.
Really?? It sounds like he was managing teams rather than being an IC..
I think you're describing all managerial positions if you think he was coasting.