No Margin For Toxic Leadership
16 May, 2018
Ron Gutman, CEO of the startup HealthTap, was fired earlier this month for ‘toxicity’ in the workplace. Here are others who were booted for creating an unhealthy work environment. (Image: Shannon Tellis)
In The Hot Seat
16 May, 2018
Travis Kalanick
Fired from: Uber
Following a tumultuous six months of scandal, Uber cofounder Travis Kalanick was forced to step down after a sexual harassment blog post by a former employee set off a chain reaction of complaints and allegations against the company. The consecutive scandals highlighted a ‘toxic bro culture’ that had thrived under Kalanick’s leadership. Already under scrutiny after a video of him berating an Uber driver went viral, Kalanick was finally asked to resign.
Breaking News
16 May, 2018
Ehab Al Shihabi
Fired from: Al Jazeera America
Barely two years after launching Al Jazeera America in 2013, interim-CEO Ehab Al Shihabi was demoted to COO amid allegations of sexism and anti-Semitism. He was replaced by Al Anstey, who has served as MD of Al Jazeera English since 2010. A former senior vice-president claimed that under Al Shihabi’s leadership, women employees were excluded from meetings. Another departing employee blamed Al Shihabi for presiding over a “culture of fear”. He was subsequently let go from any position in the network.
Ringing In Change
16 May, 2018
Peter Chou
Fired from: HTC
When Chou suddenly resigned from his position as CEO in 2015, rumours of his ‘abrasive management style’ started to make the rounds. According to former executives, Chou ‘openly berated managers and overrode their decisions, often with little discussion’. Sales, marketing, product and design teams were intentionally kept separate, and parallel teams were created, sometimes for the same task. His shoot-from-the-hip approach left managers uncertain of their positions, damaging company morale and causing HTC to rapidly drop in market value.
Off The Cuff
16 May, 2018
Dov Charney
Fired from: American Apparel
After years of weathering sexual harassment lawsuits that were denied, dismissed, settled or sent to arbitration, American Apparel founder and CEO Dov Charney was ousted by the board in 2014 over “alleged misconduct” of company funds and inappropriate behaviour with employees. An investigation revealed that he had sexual liaisons with employees and models, exchanged pornographic and explicit emails, text messages and took videos and photographs’ of these encounters using company property. Prior to being ousted, Charney was also accused of trying to choke a male employee and throwing dirt at him.
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