Carol Bartz? Off With Her Head!

I learned of Carol Bartz’ dismissal from Yahoo through a pushed Wall Street Journal feed minutes ago while watching CNBC.  I did a few quick searches, and came away rather shocked.

Not shocked at her dismissal, mind you.  Shocked at HOW she was dismissed.

Yahoo Chairman Roy Bostock reportedly told her over the phone.

Francisco de Goya - The French Penalty (From Wikipedia)

Now, there have been abrupt firings over the years, and it beats, “Off with their heads” from days gone by, but over the phone?  Will some Fortune CEO in 2035 get the gate via a text message when the next generation of more technically savvy and less socialized individuals takes over the steering of our economic engine as Boomers start to go the way of the WWII generation?

I recall being shocked when Rod Canion got axed from Compaq back in 1991, but that was at least done in person.  In 1990 while taking a week off after my second child was born, I was called at home to be informed there would be layoffs that Friday and one of my employees would be let go.  The EVP would do it for me, I was told.

I came in on Friday and did it in person.  The individual in question had also been the first one to come by and congratulate me on the child, handing me a Teddy Bear before I had even gotten my first cup of coffee.  That was tough. 

 

Technology brings us so much.  It brings us communities of like minded individuals from across the globe.  It enables citizens to fight back against oppressive governments as I have written about previously in relation to Iran.  It radically quickens the pace of information flows making business operations today practically unrecognizable from as little as 15 years ago.

And just wait until mobility transforms the client side of the business data center in the next several years.

But there has also been an increased coarsening of our discourse, too.  News becomes essentially infotainment, targeting specific viewpoints.  Less fact; more editorializing in a manner that could ultimately bang into the first amendment if left unchecked.  Bloggers and message board writers become increasingly scathing in their interpersonal communications given the lack of human connection in the communication.  Words tapped out on a keyboard in anonymity with no fear of having to make eye contact or ever run into the person being verbally attacked in the writings.

Facebook and various social media forms get utilized by young teens in a sickening Lord of the Flies manner that have resulted in suicides from the anonymous bullying.  Successive generations becoming increasingly isolated from their fellow human beings as they bury their heads in electronic devices.

I know none of the players in this firing of Ms. Bartz.  I know not if Ms. Bartz communication of events is totally accurate.  I suppose it could be that Messrs. Bostock and Yang of Yahoo feel they had communicated prior directives that ought not make the final dismissal a surprise.  

Who knows?

There is very much an anthropological angle to this fascinating industry I cover.  Technology has done so much good for society as a whole.  It makes us more efficient.  It quickens the velocity of human interaction in so many different ways that I do not want to list any for fear of leaving out some obvious ones. 

But do these advancements have to come at the expense of our basic sense of human decency?

Any human being losing their livelihood, no matter how well off, deserves to be told in person.

Yahoo’s handling of this does not impress me.  

At all.