Karma is a powerful weapon in the war for talent

Were some of Meta’s fired employees not doing well? No doubt. But I’ve paid enough attention to Zuckerberg over the years to suspect that he may be responsible for some of that performance. As I have noted in the past, Zuckerberg is a leader who doesn’t always appreciate what some of his colleagues do. He has complained about productivity before. In a Q&A with employees in 2023, Meta’s “year of efficiency,” he also described the company he built as a dystopia of “managers managing managers, managing managers, managing managers, managing the people who are doing the work,” as reported in Command Line. Some excellence is measured by lines of code; other times, it’s a result of managers who build winning teams and enable others to succeed.

To be fair, I’ve never had a chance to ask Zuckerberg about his leadership philosophy. The man who says companies need more masculine energy literally speed-walked away when I first met him in Davos back in 2009, saying “let’s go” to his sister when I asked if they were having a good time. Meta didn’t respond when I reached out for comment on this. I’d love a thoughtful discussion but Zuckerberg may prefer other media settings these days. 

As for Meta’s latest round of job cuts: Like those anodyne press releases in which a CEO says they’re stepping down to pursue other projects, there’s something to be said for letting people leave with their dignity intact rather than branding them as subpar performers. Companies that celebrate and support former employees tend to create more fans than foes.

Look at McKinsey. For all its challenges, I’ve yet to meet an ex-McKinseyite—including me—who doesn’t feel some warmth towards the brand. I have, however, heard complaints from several current and former staffers about the experience of working at Meta. That’s subjective, of course, but I suspect Zuckerberg’s harsh assessment of his colleagues is the same. True, sometimes a worker isn’t in the right job or needs a new challenge or has the wrong skill set as the business moves in a new direction. But seasoned CEOs know that how you treat and speak about people on their way out matters. They may come back as a customer or competitor. Someday, you may even want to hire them back. Karma is a powerful weapon in the war for talent. More news below.

More news below.

Contact CEO Daily via Diane Brady, diane.brady@fortune.com, LinkedIn.

Top news

Altman rejects $97 billion Musk offer. Elon Musk put together a consortium to make a surprise acquisition offer for OpenAI and its ChatGPT app but Sam Altman responded on X, “no thank you but we will buy twitter for $9.74 billion if you want.” To that, Musk said, “Swindler.”

Trump threatens “hell” for Gaza. With Hamas delaying the release of the remaining Israeli hostages, Trump said they should all be handed over by Saturday or “all hell is going to break out.” The hostages are being starved and abused by their captors while negotiations continue. Seventy-three hostages remain in Gaza, of which 34 are believed to be dead.

Trump stops enforcement of bribery law. The Department of Justice will no longer prosecute cases under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which banned American executives from paying bribes in foreign countries. Context: “most private sector companies — sensibly — see bribery as an unproductive cost,” according to Richard Nephew, a former State Department official.

Musk and Vance suggest White House not bound by judges. After federal judges delivered setbacks to President Trump’s plans to impose steep cuts on government spending, the vice president and the first buddy both suggested the executive branch could defy the judiciary.

The EU retaliated with steel tariffs of its own. As predicted.

$40 million mansion sale cancelled due to moths. A judge ruled that the heiress of a Georgian billionaire who bought a house in London with a pool, spa, cinema, and gym can get her money back because the seller didn’t tell her it was infested with flying insects.

From Fortune

Nokia taps new AI-focused CEO
Nokia announced that they’ve hired Justin Hotard, the executive vice president in data centers and AI at Intel, as the telecom group’s next CEO. Hotard will take over the role in April as Nokia looks to revitalize under a new focus on AI. Fortune

UnitedHealth Group is on the offensive
UnitedHealth Group has tapped a defamation law firm to go after social media posts the insurance group argues are untrue just two months after UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was assassinated. The law firm, Clare Locke, has already gone after a plastic surgeon that they claim posted “knowingly false, misleading, and defamatory posts regarding UnitedHealthcare” on Instagram last month. Fortune

Former Meta director sues
A former director at Meta is suing the tech giant for what she describes as a “toxic pattern” of silencing women at the company. Kelly Stonelake, who worked at Meta for more than 15 years before being laid off in January 2024, claims Meta ignored her reports of sexual harassment, among other allegations. Fortune

The markets

• The S&P 500 is approaching its all-time high. It closed at 6,066.44 yesterday, up 0.7%. Tech stocks led the way: Nvidia was up nearly 3%. U.S. Futures were down 0.31% this morning. The price of gold hit an all-time high, at $2,911 per ounce.

From the analysts

• Goldman Sachs on immigration: “In a more extreme risk scenario where the immigration crackdown creates a climate in which unauthorized immigrants are afraid to go to work or employers are afraid to employ them, the economic consequences would be more serious because unauthorized immigrants already in the US account for 4-5% of the total workforce and 15-20% in some industries. Abruptly losing these workers could be very disruptive for many of these industries and have a larger inflation impact,” per Jan Hatzius et al.
• Convera on the dollar: “The US dollar’s strength was bolstered last week by its status as a safe-haven asset amid global uncertainty. Overall, the week’s developments underscored 1. the fragility of global markets in the face of policy shifts but also, 2. the fact that equity markets can continue rising as long as earnings keep outperforming expectations,” per Boris Kovacevic.
• JP Morgan on the Fed: “The Fed’s asymmetrical bias [to the past] did not get challenged by the January payroll data and continues to remain an anchor of our bullish outlook on risk assets,” per Fabio Bassi et al.
• Bank of America on S&P 500 earnings: “307 companies (76% of S&P 500 EPS) have reported. Reported EPS came in 4% above consensus … and consensus EPS (actual+ests.) is up 3% from Jan. 1, implying +12% YoY,” per Ohsung Kwon and Savita Subramanian.

Around the watercooler