These news depressed me. Am I the only one who is saddened by this pathetic show by our industry leaders? Made me pessimistic about the future.
shadowgovt•36m ago
At this point, it is really important for everyone in the industry to recognize that the industry leaders (in terms of "running the most successful companies") should not be considered ethical or moral leaders.
It's a categorical error. Like expecting a boat captain to be Descartes because they're good at leading people to operate a boat (or, for that matter, expecting Descartes to take first in a marathon because he was really good at applying logic to philosophical questions).
InsideOutSanta•35m ago
This is devastating enough on its own. But what makes it even more troubling is that the United States has a president who demands such transparently false praise. What's going on in this man's head? Does he not understand that these people are lying to him because they are afraid of what he will do to their companies? Or does he know, and that is the point?
What in the world is wrong with this man?
shadowgovt•33m ago
In general, when there are no consequences for people's actions they don't change those actions.
wand3r•31m ago
The power is real. The fear is real. The praise is the only fake thing.
dmonitor•29m ago
It's about enforcing a power dynamic. Groveling and empty praise is about showing loyalty and control. Trump thinks enforcing this level of control over others is what success looks like.
GuinansEyebrows•35m ago
let it be the curtain pulled back on how this class of people operates. just because we can see it now doesn't mean this kind of thing hasn't been happening behind the scenes for... ever.
not to excuse the brazenness of it - i'm as disgusted as you are.
ElevenLathe•29m ago
The troubling fact is that the country's owners no longer feel the need to put on a show of democratic values. It's like witnessing Diocletian do away with the republican pretense of earlier emperors.
herval•9m ago
I feel like this curtain drop started in earnest in tech as well, when Musk took over Twitter and declared (along with certain VC) that engineers are no longer "special" and need to be treated like cattle.
The entire industry gladly dropped their masks. Quite the irony, for a group of people that takes so much pride in "thinking different" and "changing the world".
mingus88•30m ago
Business has always been this way. It’s the nature of power.
It just so happens when you have a fragile ego in power, people seeking power will naturally play to that ego for a leg up.
We knew before 2015 that he was easy to manipulate. Easy to push his buttons, easy to flatter.
Frankly if you are a CEO in 2015 and you aren’t flattering this idiot to profit then you are violating your duties to your shareholders
jordanpg•26m ago
Indeed. It is a calibrated, lawyer-defined behavior called executing their fiduciary duties.
In other words, they are behaving as necessary (and as advised) to avoid later being exposed to a lawsuit.
herval•12m ago
The cray part is they're doing it by openly doing stuff that's clearly and unambiguously classified as illegal (eg the gifts in exchange for benefits)
dragonwriter•5m ago
This is routine; businesses don’t follow laws because they are laws, they follow laws to the extent that the perceived cost of violations exceed the perceived benefits. The whole reason the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act exist is to impose a domestic cost on foreign bribery by US entities to dissuade them from engaging in corruption abroad where enforcement is weak. But this President, who is explicit against that, is also very obviously, if less explicitly, also against enforcement of the laws against domestic corruption when it is him or his friends benefiting. So, there is literally no cost to weigh against the benefits.
mingus88•3m ago
As always, in business, if the penalty for breaking the law is less than the benefit you get out of the violation, then you have to go for it.
Or your competitors will. It’s the cost of doing business.
sjsdaiuasgdia•10m ago
>Frankly if you are a CEO in 2015 and you aren’t flattering this idiot to profit then you are violating your duties to your shareholders
It's all fun and games til his policies crash the economy.
Short-sighted perspectives yet again. Short term gains at the cost of long term viability.
poisonborz•30m ago
Incredible video. It's one piece of media that would shake the tech world, where it to be shown in 2017 through a time machine.
I wish this would gain more publicity. But I guess people are already desensitized for such news.
Centigonal•16m ago
"If the last and worst act of the whole regime had come immediately after the first and smallest, thousands, yes, millions would have been sufficiently shocked—if, let us say, the gassing of the Jews in ’43 had come immediately after the ‘German Firm’ stickers on the windows of non-Jewish shops in ’33. But of course this isn’t the way it happens. In between come all the hundreds of little steps, some of them imperceptible, each of them preparing you not to be shocked by the next. Step C is not so much worse than Step B, and, if you did not make a stand at Step B, why should you at Step C? And so on to Step D."
-They Thought They Were Free: The Germans, 1933-45, Milton Mayer
herval•14m ago
I recommend this book so often recently, I'm thinking about buying a dozen copies so I can give them away
llllm•20m ago
To all of you reading this, that work for these CEOs, we laugh at you.
cosmicgadget•1m ago
There are two types of employees: ones that work for a CEO that praises Trump and ones that work for a CEO too insignificant to be worth Trump's time. NEETs on parade.
cosmicgadget•17m ago
Has anybody seen any funny allhands questions of these CEOs?
RyanOD•6m ago
It's hard for me not to believe every tech leader in this room is thinking, "This guy is a total idiot. I can't believe I have to sit here and kiss his ass. What a total waste of my time. But a CEO has to do what a CEO has to do...how can I take advantage of this mess."
bb88•3m ago
This is what an oligarchy looks like. Apple, Google, Meta, etc, are on display here for who they really are.
apples_oranges•41m ago
shadowgovt•36m ago
It's a categorical error. Like expecting a boat captain to be Descartes because they're good at leading people to operate a boat (or, for that matter, expecting Descartes to take first in a marathon because he was really good at applying logic to philosophical questions).
InsideOutSanta•35m ago
What in the world is wrong with this man?
shadowgovt•33m ago
wand3r•31m ago
dmonitor•29m ago
GuinansEyebrows•35m ago
not to excuse the brazenness of it - i'm as disgusted as you are.
ElevenLathe•29m ago
herval•9m ago
The entire industry gladly dropped their masks. Quite the irony, for a group of people that takes so much pride in "thinking different" and "changing the world".
mingus88•30m ago
It just so happens when you have a fragile ego in power, people seeking power will naturally play to that ego for a leg up.
We knew before 2015 that he was easy to manipulate. Easy to push his buttons, easy to flatter.
Frankly if you are a CEO in 2015 and you aren’t flattering this idiot to profit then you are violating your duties to your shareholders
jordanpg•26m ago
In other words, they are behaving as necessary (and as advised) to avoid later being exposed to a lawsuit.
herval•12m ago
dragonwriter•5m ago
mingus88•3m ago
Or your competitors will. It’s the cost of doing business.
sjsdaiuasgdia•10m ago
It's all fun and games til his policies crash the economy.
Short-sighted perspectives yet again. Short term gains at the cost of long term viability.