Three of the top executives of Coinbase, the largest US-based crypto exchange, were being petitioned by some employees of the exchange to be removed.
This move was revealed in a now-deleted petition first published on Mirror.xyz. Although the CEO of Brian Armstrong was not on the list, he has since condemned the move in a series of tweets today, tagging it “really dumb on multiple levels.”
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1/ This is really dumb on multiple levelshttps://t.co/k6fATRXvHn
— Brian Armstrong – barmstrong.eth (@brian_armstrong) June 10, 2022
According to the petition, Coinbase should oust Chief Operating Officer Emilie Choi, Chief Product Officer Surojit Chatterjee, and Chief People Officer LJ Brock. An archived copy of the petition can be found on the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine.
The petition reads in part:
“We the employees at Coinbase believe that the executive team has recently been making decisions that are not in the best interests of the Company, its employees, and its shareholders. COO Emilie Choi, CPO Surojit Chatterjee, and Chief People Officer LJ Brock have been the most prominent executives who have been executing plans and ideas that have led to questionable results and negative value.”
The employees accused the top officials of executing plans and ideas that have led to questionable results and negative value. In the petition, the employees listed eight different accusations leveled against the top officials, including the failure of the Coinbase NFT platform and the over-prioritization of certain products, which has led to a lack of focus on other important issues like infrastructure.
In response to the employees’ petition, Brian Armstrong stated that any employee that has no confidence in the executives or CEO should rather quit instead of making a scene.
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In a series of tweets, Brian Armstrong noted:
“First of all, if you want to do a vote of no confidence, you should do it on me and not blame the execs. Who do you think is running this company? I was a little offended not to be included.
“Second, if you have no confidence in the execs or CEO of a company then why are you working at that company? Quit and find a company to work at that you believe in!
“Third, making suggestions on how to improve the company is a great idea (in fact, we expect everyone to be a part of that). But our culture is to praise in public, and criticize in private.
“Fourth, posting this publicly is also deeply unethical because it harms your fellow co-workers, along with shareholders and customers. It’s also dumb because if you get caught you will be fired, and it’s just not an effective way to get what you claim to want.
“Be aware of our own psychology – in any down market, people want to start pointing fingers and find someone to blame. This is not just in companies btw – countries see increased polarization when things are down.
“Recognize this mental trap and don’t fall into it – teams have to pull together and act as one company during difficult periods, not turn on each other. Remember, the enemies are not within, everyone around you is an ally.
“There is probably lots we can be doing better, but if you’re at a place where you want to leak stuff externally then it’s time for you to go. You’re hurting yourself and those around you.
“While we’re at it – let me address the dot collector piece (since this was probably leaked by someone feeling similarly, or maybe even the same person). I was shocked to see how much play this got, for such a small thing in the org.
“We have tested lots of different HR tools/vendors over the years and are constantly looking at new ones. We had two teams try out this tool for a quarter (i think) and found people didn’t use it much, and when they did most of the feedback was positive.
“So we weren’t planning on using it. A non-event from my POV. Then someone leaks this and it creates a run of news (and misinformation). People feeding on fear in an unhealthy way.
“The only thing that’s interesting here is that the confluence of a down market and the size we’re at means we’re now going to have small number of individuals in the org who think it’s interesting to leak stuff externally and see how much attention it can get.
“Sad to say, but this is going to happen periodically given the size we’re at.
“Remote work can exacerbate this also I think, and it’s part of why we try hard to get teams together in person periodically. Being physically separated each day can contribute to this unhealthy us vs them mentality. People forget we’re on the same team.
“Anyway – 99.9% of the company has important work to do, so if you can stop distracting us that be great and we will get back to work building cool stuff!
“If you’re unhappy about something, work as part of the team to raise it along with proposed solutions (it’s easy to be a critic, harder to be a part of the solution). If you can’t do that and you’re going to leak/rant externally then quit. Thanks!”
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