London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Oct 02, 2025

CEOs can't bully their employees anymore. Elon Musk's failed ultimatum to Twitter employees is proof of that.

CEOs can't bully their employees anymore. Elon Musk's failed ultimatum to Twitter employees is proof of that.

Business leaders have a right to demand hard work from employees, but being too aggressive can have the opposite effect — making them quit.
Elon Musk's ultimatum to Twitter workers holds a lesson for his fellow CEOs: Tread lightly.

The decision by reportedly at least 1,200 Twitter employees to choose three-months' severance over Musk's promise of "extremely hardcore" working conditions could put the company's future at risk, as key staff are reported to have departed.

For these workers — including the ones who hung up on Musk in a video call in which he was trying to convince them to stay — the certainty of a few more paychecks beats logging long hours in what could be a bruising environment. In part, we have the pandemic to thank, among other factors.

Musk's authoritarian leadership style might have worked before — and still might in some industries — but in many cases, the voice-of-God approach no longer causes as many employees to snap to attention.

Many workers are tired and unhappy with the status quo, and that's a sign leaders should proceed with caution. Sure, many CEOs are worried about a recession and they're going to be demanding more. But they need to be smart about how they communicate and what they ask of their people because workers are no longer automatically saying, "How high?" when leaders tell them to jump.

A good CEO's response shouldn't show aggression: While CEOs can demand workers do their best, they can't do so with such force and with such disregard for workers' wellbeing and still expect to get good results.

The pandemic accelerated changes to a transforming employer-employee contract

Since the arrival of the pandemic, many workers have rejiggered their priorities, changed jobs, or "quiet quit" after suffering burnout. Even among those with less freedom than well-paid tech employees, many have unionized to demand better compensation and working conditions.

Consider Starbucks staffers, who this week went on strike at some locations during the coffee chain's annual Red Cup Day, one of the company's busiest. Workers are demanding more help and more good-faith bargaining even as they stare down what could be another economic funk.

Of course, workers in some industries might find it harder to push back. JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon, among others, has been forceful about calling workers back to the office. Many bankers are back to their old commutes.

Yet in the comparatively laid-back confines of tech, where worker autonomy is sacrosanct, Musk seems to have miscalculated. Multiple critical teams at Twitter are now nearly defunct and several leading engineers have departed the company, according to the Verge. In response, Twitter closed its offices until Monday.

This resignation en masse led at least one staffer to question whether the platform can recover from this loss of talent.

This is likely not what Musk had planned. And it underscores that just because someone is a powerful CEO, it doesn't mean he's wise to treat workers like cogs in a machine.

1COVID1-19 was a turning point for many. Millions of workers went from spinning their wheels on commutes and working in cubicles to having more time with family and working from home. At the same time, remote workers put in more hours than ever. They've come to expect the same dedication and care they put into their work from the CEOs; they want their mental health to be prioritized, McKinsey research shows.

"Companies need to recognize that the power dynamic has changed," Karin Kimbrough, chief economist at LinkedIn wrote in a blog post. "Workers are going to demand more from them on multiple fronts. Candidates are being much more selective about where they work, and workers are more vocal about what they want."
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
FBI Removes Agents Who Kneeled at 2020 Protest, Citing Breach of Professional Conduct
Trump Alleges ‘Triple Sabotage’ at United Nations After Escalator and Teleprompter Failures
Shock in France: 5 Years in Prison for Former President Nicolas Sarkozy
Tokyo’s Jimbōchō Named World’s Coolest Neighbourhood for 2025
European Officials Fear Trump May Shift Blame for Ukraine War onto EU
BNP Paribas Abandons Ban on 'Controversial Weapons' Financing Amid Europe’s Defence Push
Typhoon Ragasa Leaves Trail of Destruction Across East Asia Before Making Landfall in China
The Personality Rights Challenge in India’s AI Era
Big Banks Rebuild in Hong Kong as Deal Volume Surges
Italy Considers Freezing Retirement Age at 67 to Avert Scheduled Hike
Italian City to Impose Tax on Visiting Dogs Starting in 2026
Arnault Denounces Proposed Wealth Tax as Threat to French Economy
Study Finds No Safe Level of Alcohol for Dementia Risk
Denmark Investigates Drone Incursion, Does Not Rule Out Russian Involvement
Lilly CEO Warns UK Is ‘Worst Country in Europe’ for Drug Prices, Pulls Back Investment
Nigel Farage Emerges as Central Force in British Politics with Reform UK Surge
Disney Reinstates ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ after Six-Day Suspension over Charlie Kirk Comments
U.S. Prosecutors Move to Break Up Google’s Advertising Monopoly
Nvidia Pledges Up to $100 Billion Investment in OpenAI to Power Massive AI Data Center Build-Out
U.S. Signals ‘Large and Forceful’ Support for Argentina Amid Market Turmoil
Nvidia and Abu Dhabi’s TII Launch First AI-&-Robotics Lab in the Middle East
Vietnam Faces Up to $25 Billion Export Loss as U.S. Tariffs Bite
Europe Signals Stronger Support for Taiwan at Major Taipei Defence Show
Indonesia Court Upholds Military Law Amid Concerns Over Expanded Civilian Role
Larry Ellison, Michael Dell and Rupert Murdoch Join Trump-Backed Bid to Take Over TikTok
Trump and Musk Reunite Publicly for First Time Since Fallout at Kirk Memorial
Vietnam Closes 86 Million Untouched Bank Accounts Over Biometric ID Rules
×