Messing with the US billionaires

Brian Armstrong, co-founder & CEO at Coinbase, broke Twitter with his nine-part tweet about mental health! Brian is worried that attacks from the press and politicians will drive successful CEOs to "leave from burnout." Given the timing, this tweet seemed to respond to the pounding that Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has taken lately, although Armstrong mentioned "Gates, Page, Bezos" as though they were examples. This tweet has to be one of the more bizarre and out-of-touch commentaries on the what's-wrong-with-Facebook debate.

I do worry that as companies get to be more successful, the number of attacks from the press, politicians, and trolls on CEOs (and rounds of congressional testimony) makes the job not fun, and they leave from burnout. Gates, Page, Bezos. America could be losing some of its best talents from this, and it has some parallels to what is happening to successful CEOs in China. You don't get moved to house arrest in the U.S., but it is our version of it, putting something that gets too successful in its place. Of course, every company deserves to have scrutiny and should take an honest look at what it's doing well and not well, but the market solves a lot of this for us. People vote with their wallets, choosing what to buy. And the best way to keep flawed companies in check is to have new startups come to disrupt them. So how do you build a company today that is resistant to demoralizing attacks from trolls the more successful it becomes? I am not sure, but here are a few ideas: First, hire employees and build a board of independent thinkers insulated from biased third parties scripting their minds. Inoculate your supply chain. Second, give customers (not just employees) a sense of ownership. Crypto has pioneered this, with many companies and protocols giving users a piece of what they are helping build. Facebook would be facing a lot less hate if all its users owned a portion of the network. If people felt like everyone was growing together, there would likely be a greater sense of unity.

"America could be losing some of its best talents from this," Armstrong added. Really? Like who? The three entrepreneurs he cited, among the very wealthiest people in the world, each stepped back from full-time CEO duties so they can pursue ways of spending the gobs of money they've made. Moreover, Gates and Bezos, in particular, have continued pursuing high-profile ventures that suggest they remain comfortable with the limelight (no one blasts themselves into space wearing a cowboy hat if they're afraid of being criticized).

Mark Zuckerberg shows no signs of wanting to follow the trio out the door anytime soon. Indeed, it's no secret that you don't get to be as wealthy and successful as these founder-CEOs without a thick hide. That certainly seemed also true of Armstrong, now worth about $9 billion, who in the past has happily taken on the SEC, the media, and much of his workforce. Perhaps he was more sensitive to the resulting criticism than we knew?

Armstrong isn't wrong in thinking that some of the attacks on successful tech giants are overdone, particularly those from politicians and media elements. But the entrepreneurs who started these companies, and the top executives who continue to run them, are rewarded more than handsomely to deal with any barbs they get from critics. The possibility that over-the-top criticism will scare off talent is a valid worry in politics, where at least in the U.S., people typically don't become billionaires. In tech, it seems misplaced.