'You just didn't do the work': Entitled CEO sends wildly tone-deaf email to employees to kick off 2023

Ben Weiss • Writer and Editor

Jan 5, 2023 2:00 PM EST

Shoutout to this CEO for taking zero accountability! This dude pretty much did exactly what you should never do as the leader of a team, regardless of the industry. Even a child would know that the best way to motivate people does not involve calling their work subpar and blaming absolutely all of the group's problems on them alone. If anything good comes out of this story, here's hoping that it's either a mass exodus of employees or that this email will be preserved and published as a sort of template for what not to do as a leader.

This employee shared their boss's email via this thread on Reddit's r/antiwork subreddit, and before you scroll below to take a look for yourself, here's a summary of where this guy went oh so wrong. Firstly, shaming your employees for not introducing themselves to 15 new coworkers is not a strong motivator; how about facilitating that networking yourself? Secondly, assessing everyone's effort and results at a C grade while self-reporting your own effort level as an A- feels like major tunnel vision. Finally, telling employees to work longer hours without any discussion of potential raises or, at the very least, payment for overtime is just irresponsible. Let us know what you think of this fool! For more, take a look at this update about an employee who has been trying to quit.