Don’t you expect better from people who are over the age of 18 and happen to be heads of publicly traded companies? Don’t you expect some measure of dignity and restraint? I do.
So when I see a public figure like Carol Bartz, who was fired by Yahoo the other day, whining all over the press like a 3-year old, I shake my head. She told Fortune: “These people fucked me over.”
She claims she told the Yahoo chairman of the board, who had telephoned her to tell her that she did not have a job any longer, “Why don’t you have the balls to tell me yourself?… I thought you were classier.”
Classier in the eyes of Carol Bartz is something other people owe her, not something she owes to herself and to the world.
By bitching and moaning in public, Carol is just as unclassy as the person who fired her. And what is it about these CEOs who feel that they are owed a huge favour, a red carpet way of being fired, complete with champagne and orchestral music?
You know how CEOs fire employees in the US? Mere employees (aka wage slaves) get a few minutes to clear out their desks while being watched by security. They are not allowed to say goodbye to colleagues, and they are escorted out the door by security, as if they were criminals.
This is what boards of directors need to do to CEOs and other executives in companies: treat them exactly the way they treat their employees.
