I think we need another one for "An update from <company>", as this has seemingly become the standard subject to use when you're announcing layoffs or data breaches. I saw an identical headline earlier today from Sony announcing a studio closure:
https://sonyinteractive.com/en/news/blog/an-update-from-play...
These messages are obviously never going to be well received, but at least people can find comfort in the fact that it's because Dropbox is shifting direction and strategy and not because they were bad employees. Stuff like this happens in business. Maybe you've focused on private sales and want to shift to enterprise sales or fund investments at which point your company no longer needs it's sales and marketing departments because the company mission will be radically different. Changing course is a CEO taking responsibility for the company.
It is what it is.
There is no empathy whatsoever involved when someone says "I take responsibility" and then faces zero consequences. It's just a slap in the face.
If a CEO did not take full responsibility, what would be different?
Very early in my career I accidentally deleted every IP phone in the municipality where I was working. It was because they didn't have a test setup and the documentation didn't the SysAdmin gave me weren't updated. It was still my fault though and the first thing I did was to tell the IT manager thinking I'd get in trouble. I didn't. He told me he wasn't happy that I had deleted all the phones, but that it was good that I had come to him directly and taken responsibility.
Because when you take responsibility in the adult world, it means that you can work from there. As such it's both ridiculous and disingenuous when you compare a perfectly normal consequences of doing business with committing a crime. It's also a little weird to do so on HN considering this is a VC site.
Nah, screw that. So may CEOs get told by workers this is a horrible route, drive straight into a wall, then show "empathy" for their bloody nose as they throw the passengers off a cliff?
That's not empathy, that saving face.
>Stuff like this happens in business
Stupid stuff always happens. Doesn't mean we shouldn't call out stupid stuff every-time it comes up. I won't accept "it is what it is" when livliehoods are at stake.
Executives from these billion dollar companies would do just fine if they went a year without pay. How many laid off employees can say the same?
That would be “taking responsibility”.
People get mad because these phrases prove how wide the gap between them and executives is. How deep into capitalism we are.
Changing course and immediately resigning would be that.
It's a layoff. Yeah, it sucks, and no matter what the CEO says people will be pissed. Better to just take the same good advice as when starting a new relationship: "Just ignore everything they say, and only consider what they do." I.e. is the severance package good? Are folks given some assistance/recommendations finding new jobs? If so, I couldn't care less about what the preamble in the layoff announcement looks like.
It's professional passive-aggression. That's more angering than just saying "we need more money, we are laying off people". That "language" is what you're expected to do in the office half your life and it's a tiring waste of time keeping up false pleasantries.
If you don't know, look up the Umbridge effect. Sometimes the petty evils that pretend to be civil stings harder than the pure evils. Not many of us have a Voldamort in our lives. We all have an Umbridge.