Friday Feedback: Empathetic leaders, office mandates, and the end of free coffee

First, K.P., who runs a Fortune 500 company, had this to say about yesterday’s post on the possible end of the empathetic leader:

“What I see across industries is that there is a new generation of workers that want to work for companies that share their values, who want to work for leaders who value them and care for them, who understand their struggles and do what they can to support them. We are still in tight labor markets and I think the companies that win will be the ones that attract and engage the best of the best.”

M.C. was skeptical about CEOs demanding a return to office:

‘So a ‘return to the office’ isn’t the same thing as a ‘return to work’. People have been working more/longer from home. And productivity has soared with remote work (much more productive than ‘commute’ hours), shown in record corporate profits….That said, cultures like Amazon have never been empathetic.”

And J.L.G. was surprised to learn about the end of free coffee in the Goldman Sachs sky lobby:

“Goldman pays their employees millions, and can’t provide free coffee?”

Finally, M.S. correctly took me to task for saying last Friday that the U.S. doesn’t have a functioning government:

“The government functions just fine. Its biggest bits—insurance and defense—are all in place. So are smaller bits, from air traffic control to schools to highway maintenance… Most people in the world would love to have a government like ours.

“It’s our politics that are broken, for all of the reasons you have written about and more. That’s an important difference.”

Yes, it is an important difference, and I apologize for misstating it. Our politics are broken. Our government may not be perfect, but it remains the envy of much of the world.

More news below.

Alan Murray
@alansmurray
alan.murray@fortune.com

TOP NEWS

World Bank nominee

Biden has nominated former Mastercard CEO Ajay Banga as the new World Bank president. The announcement comes as the World Bank looks to expand its focus from poverty to the fight against climate change, and Banga is expected to utilize private money to tackle climate change. The nomination requires backing from other member countries, including China, Japan, Germany, France and the UK. Financial Times

Crypto jobs

The crypto industry has seen over 2,000 job losses in the first two months of 2023, despite a rally in crypto prices. Crypto exchanges including Coinbase, Crypto.com, Huobi Global, Gemini, and Luno have all announced job cuts due to weak retail trading. Coinbase has suggested that more layoffs may be necessary, following the 20% workforce cut in January. Bloomberg

TikTok restrictions

The European Commission has banned its employees from using TikTok, due to security concerns and the growing tensions between the West and China. The rule applies to both official and personal devices if they have work-related apps installed, with employees having until March 15 to remove the app from their devices. New York Times

AROUND THE WATERCOOLER

America’s most expensive zip code is taking a stand against ultrawealthy NIMBYs like Steph Curry and Marc Andreessen—in the smallest possible way, by Alena Botros

Elon Musk says he’ll open-source Twitter’s algorithm. Here’s why that would change everything, by David Meyer

Microsoft tops the list of largest private donors to Ukraine with $430 million—but Google also made the cut, by Associated Press

Sam Bankman-Fried and FTX straw donors made tens of millions of dollars in illegal political contributions, DOJ alleges, by Leo Schwartz

Three Arrows Capital liquidator to sell NFTs to help recoup $3.5B owed to creditors, Apes and Punks likely on the block, by Marco Quiroz-Gutierrez

This edition of CEO Daily was edited by Jackson Fordyce.