Creating a Corporate Culture of Crime & Espionage

Did you catch last week’s disturbing news about eBay’s plot to silence a blogger couple in MA who dared to disagree with some of their practices? The New York Times reported this story in an expose titled, Inside eBay’s Cockroach Culture: The Ghastly Story of a Stalking Scandal 

In a nutshell, here’s what transpired. Several young and inexperienced contract workers felt pressured by their rather insane boss to participate in a scheme to terrorize bloggers Ina and David Steiner, whom he wanted shut down.

According to the article, CEO Devin Wenig and eBay’s communications chief Steve Wymer called the shots. Wenig, who was infuriated by the husband and wife blogging team writing, told a subordinate to “Take her down.” Wymer shared Mr. Wenig’s vitriol toward Ms. Steiner. “I want to see ashes,” he said at one point. “Whatever it takes.”

The harassment campaign included a parade of disturbing deliveries to the bloggers home that had a package containing a bloody pig mask, a book titled “Grief Diaries: Surviving the Loss of a Spouse” and a funeral wreath, as well as fly larvae and live spiders and a box of cockroaches. This campaign was followed by physical surveillance at their home.

The FBI got involved as well as eBay’s lawyers. Several contract workers were fired and are facing criminal charges. As for the execs? They’re doing just fine.

According to the The Times, In June, Mr. Wenig was re-elected to the board of General Motors, a position that pays $317,000 a year. Mary Barra, GM’s chief executive, called the cyberstalking scandal “regrettable” but noted, “it didn’t involve any GM business.”

And if that isn’t enough to make your blood boil, eBay terminated Wenig “without cause” and gave him a departing gift of $57M.

Mr. Wymer has a new job as the chief executive of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Silicon Valley. The board's chair said the nonprofit was “aware” of what happened at eBay, but believes Mr. Wymer is “a leader with integrity” and was the unanimous choice for the job.

The stories of executives misbehaving are nothing new. But I have to say; this story takes the prize.

Both men walked away unscathed while allowing their minions to take the fall. I find that disgusting.

Stories like this one explain why people view mission statements as a joke. And those statements about corporate culture...you know the ones that take days and sometimes weeks to come up with? They're often more fiction than the truth.

Take a look at eBay's website and their mission statement, which begins with “Enabled by People.” Looks like everyone is having a great time, right? Wonder if those workers who felt pressured to participate in this scandal felt enabled.

You have to eat, drink, and breathe your mission statement everyday--not when it’s just convenient to do so.

Everyone must be held accountable for their actions, including the President and CEO. Companies with executives behaving badly cannot afford to look the other way. They can’t give their executives second chances when they wouldn’t think of doing so for the lowest paid worker. 

You owe it to your people to ensure those at the top of the organization have the values you want emulated throughout the organization. You owe this to your customers and shareholders as well.

People don’t work for companies. They work for people.

If you want to know why things don’t smell right in your organization, start at the top. You won’t have to go much further, as that’s where you’ll find your answer.

There are three parts to your assignment this week:

1. Pay close attention to the actions of your senior leaders. Do they represent your company well? If you had it to do over again, would you hire the same people?
2. Take HR out of the process employees need to go through to report an ethical issue. Hire an outside firm to investigate these sort of complaints and have their findings go directly to the Board.
3. Look at your mission statement. Do the actions in your company reflect what is written on the walls? If not, why?

These questions can raise issues that you might not be prepared to deal with. Reach out to me at [email protected], if you’re in need of some guidance.

Anyone else outraged by this or working under similar conditions? Share your story in the comment section below.