Less than 24 hours ago, Braden Wallake made a mistake. He took a crying selfie (Bella Hadid-esque) and posted it on LinkedIn along with a guilt-ridden post about firing some of his employees at marketing services company HyperSocial.
The post was self-aggrandizing in the strangest way: Wallake criticizes his failings as a leader while praising his own vulnerability. “I wish I owned a business that was only driven by money and didn’t care who I hurt along the way,” he says. (Boo-hoo). He then says that he shared the post to show that “not all CEOs are insensitive,” as if CEOs are a helpless class that needs to be protected.
The tweet may have been deleted
(opens in a new tab)
On LinkedIn, the post garnered more than 29,000 reactions and 5,000 comments, ranging from embarrassment to genuine support and outrage. Each of them proves that LinkedIn is still its own special corner of internet hell.
The tweet may have been deleted
(opens in a new tab)
One of the best comments comes from a man named Jared Steele, whose job title is simply “patents and mushrooms.” He wrote: “Maybe adopting a sea lion at the start of a recession isn’t such a great idea?” and attached a screenshot of a Wallake Instagram post celebrating a donation he made to the World Wildlife Fund in July to “adopt” (i.e., financially support) a sea otter.
Mr. Steele… are you okay? Did you Instagram harass a guy who went viral on LinkedIn for a crying selfie and decided the best response was to criticize him for contributing to the happy life of a pinniped?
The irony is that both Wallake and Steele end up missing the point: that a guilty post about layoffs should focus on the affected employees, not their bosses.
LinkedIn is truly a special place.
Want to get more culture and tech news straight to your inbox? Enroll in Mashable Newsletter Highlights This day.
Source: mashable.com