CEOs struggle to process their new reality after the public glee at Brian Thompson’s killing
CEOs struggle to process their new reality after the public glee at Brian Thompson’s killing
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The biggest fear is that the hatred expressed in social media posts about Thompson—and glorification of 26-year-old shooting suspect Luigi Mangione—will lead to copycat attacks, says Bill George, a former Medtronic CEO and executive fellow at Harvard Business School. “People are in disbelief that they would be making this kid into a hero,” he told Fortune.
Fortune reached out to dozens of CEOs this week to get a sense of how they’re reacting to this moment. The majority declined to comment. We are quoting anonymously those who did respond, to allow them the freedom to give us their most candid answers. These have been edited for length and clarity. Some have previously been reported by Fortune.
— “The disconnect between public perception and personal humanity has been striking, with some commentary bordering on dehumanizing. This highlights the critical need to humanize leadership and address the pressures faced in high-visibility roles.”
— “When I was growing up, CEOs didn’t make millions more than everyone else in the company. I think we have to reflect on why there’s so much anger and do something about it.”
— “I think we’re living through very seriously dangerous times where we’re normalizing antisocial behavior and normalizing violence on both extremes—on the far right, and on the far left. We basically moved, over the last 10 to 12 years, to a world that I don’t recognize. It’s very scary … I do understand that there’s enormous amounts of injustice and that we need to bring everybody along, and there’s a lot of things that we do, but I don’t think revolution is the answer to solving problems.” (a former CEO)
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"critical need to humanise leadership"
What about humanising your customer base? Humanising employees?
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Yeah, I mean the quotes I pulled were the most self-aware wolves nonsense in the article, but the rest were basically either "we need more security" or "oh no the poors are onto us".
I've never met a CEO or member of the ultra-wealthy that wasn't either a sociopath, narcissist, or completely detached from reality. I've only met about a dozen of those kinds of folks but they all had that same vibe.
Are you surprised?
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To get ultra wealthy, you have to go over corpses and be radical and very detached from reality AND your own humanity and humility. Because if you're not, you'll stop yourself and give back eventually.
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It's more nuanced than that. At least from the small section of that population I've interacted with it seems like there is very little malice in their actions. They don't care and/or don't understand the impact of their choices.
I had the misfortune of having to sit through a couple meetings with the First Buddy (when a company he owned contracted one I worked for) and he is the only exception I've encountered. He struck me as actively hostile as if he viewed everyone around him who wasn't agreeing with him as threats to be immediately and definitively dealt with.
I'd suggest that the dragons of the world come in many colors and alignments.
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Not at all surprised. Just gobsmacked by how far they have their heads up their arses.
Edit: The only benevolent CEOs I've met have retired early and given their wealth away so that they have just enough to live out the rest of their lives in peace.
The rest are greedy narcissists and are extremely selfish, believe that being poor is a choice and love the thrill of taking advantage of people.
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The biggest fear is that the hatred expressed in social media posts about Thompson—and glorification of 26-year-old shooting suspect Luigi Mangione—will lead to copycat attacks
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People are in disbelief that they would be making this kid into a hero
Last time I checked, he was a full grown 26 year old man who made his own decisions, not a "kid."
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I don’t think revolution is the answer to solving problems
It's easy to say that when you're not living out of a shelter while working full-time.
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It's also easy to say that when you're the living embodiment of the luxury and excess of the establishment/status quo.
Like... dude...of course you don't want to see revolution... every single fucking element of the system tilts not only in your favor but also in favor of perpetuating and furthering your absolute stranglehold on wealth, power, security, etc.
The more interesting answer would be to the question: if, as a society, we became so united in our acceptance of this that it literally became commonplace for CEOs to get whacked and then for juries to nullify the charges and for the killer to walk free...and it was happening dozens of times every year, or month...
...would you support a revolution to change the status quo that was literally killing people like you with zero repercussions?
If not, you're an absolute idiot, or you're actually on our side in this.
If yes, then you know damn well what's going on and, shocker, you're playing dumb for a cheap attempt at sympathy.
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230 comments