“This has to be one of the most gruesome displays of organizational leadership posted in a minute,” a person reacted to a now-viral leaked video that shows the CEO of the digital marketing company Clearlink addressing his employees.

The CEO named James Clarke already told employees earlier this month that he had run out of patience with them complaining about the new return-to-office policy.

But the leaked call took the controversy to a whole new level after Clarke praised an employee for selling “their family dog” to show commitment to returning to the office.

Huge outrage then broke out online with people questioning everything Clarke demonstrates in the video, from toxic leadership to exclusive corporate culture and logical fallacies.

The Clearlink CEO sparks an outrage after a leaked video call shows him praising an employee who sold their family dog to return to the office

Image credits: Andrea Piacquadio (not the actual photo)

Many people, including serial entrepreneur Lizelle van Vuuren, addressed the unhinged CEO speech on Twitter

Image credits: heylizelle

Here is what Clearlink CEO James Clark said in the infamous leaked video

Image credits: heylizelle

Remember, perfect is the enemy of good, we don’t need perfect, we just need good. We just need you to show up and give an honest day’s hard work. Blood, sweat and tears, and go home to your families after that, and enjoy what’s really important. And work towards having some of that freedom that we talked about.

Image credits: heylizelle

I challenge any one of you to outwork me, but you won’t. I’m all in in what we’re doing here at Clearlink. And I want you to know it and feel it. Because this is what we do. And I’ve sacrificed. And those of you that are here have sacrificed greatly to be here as well. To be away from your family.

Image credits: heylizelle

I learned from one of our leaders that in the midst of hearing this message, [he] went out and sold their family dog, which breaks my heart as someone who’s been, you know, at the head of the humanization of pets movement in other businesses that we’ve built. But truly, those are the sacrifices that are being made. And I honor you for those sacrifices and what is taking place here.

Image credits: heylizelle

Image credits: Alan Levine (not the actual photo)

Image credits: heylizelle

[Some aren’t] working hard at all and it’s unfair to the rest of that are. Some have already quietly quit their positions, but are taking a paycheck. In one month, this year alone, I got data that about 30 of you didn’t even open or crack open laptops, and those are all remote employees, including their manager, for a whole month. How could that be in a company where we’re doing our very best? And what does that say about us as a company and that they’re still here? They’re still employees, none lost their jobs over this.

That’s, again, not to say that they weren’t working at all, but those are not great indicators.

Image credits: heylizelle

Here is the full video that sparked an outcry as tweeted by van Vuuren

On the topic of sh*tty leadership, Clearlink CEO commending an employee for “selling their family dog” to come back into the office. In another episode of ending remote work instead of going to therapy. pic.twitter.com/aAjjDXnA7A

— Lizelle van Vuuren (@heylizelle) April 20, 2023

In the video, the CEO also rants about employees using artificial intelligence

Image credits: heylizelle

The CEO expressed his dissatisfaction with content writers who use AI but get paid for eight hours of work. “I can do that in about 30 minutes of an eight-hour workday.” Hence, he offers a ‘solution’: “Let’s put out 30-50 times our normal production.”

He then questions whether single and working mothers can be valuable employees like others

Image credits: heylizelle

The CEO was also skeptical of breadwinning mothers and if they are even able to deal with the work at the company as well as their colleagues.

“While I know you’re doing your best, some would say, they’ve even mastered this art,” the CEO said before stating the very opposite: “This path is neither fair to your employer nor fair to those children.”

Image credits: heylizelle

While he tried to say it’s not a criticism per se, he argued that most mothers would find it hard to meet their employer’s expectations. “There are only so many waking hours in each day and it is this value-for-value exchange that is rarely optimized.”

Thus, according to the CEO, only the rarest of full-time moms can be productive full-time employees.

The digital transformation leader and CEO of TechSmith says that Clarke’s video was a “display of narcissism, exclusive corporate culture, and logical fallacies”

In response to Clarke’s infamous video, Wendy Hamilton, the CEO at TechSmith, Digital Transformation Leader, Corporate and NFP Board Member wrote in a Linkedin post: “If you care about workplace #culture, then I suggest watching this Clearlink CEO video of James Clarke as a cautionary tale.”

According to Hamilton, “It was supposed to be a response to pre-collected employee questions who were upset by a sudden #RTO 4-day-a-week return decision. But instead, it was a display of #CEO narcissism, exclusive corporate culture, and logical fallacies.” And there are numerous lessons to take from this.

“The biggest single issue is that James is indignant”

Bored Panda reached out to Hamilton, who told us that the biggest single issue is that “James is indignant – he is centered on a minority of employees taking advantage of flexibility, or lashing out at him.”

“He should instead be focused on actively listening to general employee sentiment,” Hamilton argues, “and making sure he understands the information they have on how the RTO decision will impact their well-being, engagement, and productivity.”

Hamilton argues that many companies are experiencing financial setbacks in this economy and boards are putting a lot of pressure on CEOs to fix it. “So there is an uprise in CEOs in trying a lot of tactics, including the now outdated tactic of telling your employees they aren’t working hard enough,” she explained.

According to the TechSmith CEO, “boards which select and evaluate CEOs need to consider the CEO’s impact on brand values, not just on performance.”

Intense backlash followed on Twitter with people exposing the wide array of flaws behind the CEO’s arguments

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