Who's the Boss?

Everyone’s over the lockdown, and it seems that the world is returning to business as usual. In fact, Amazon CEO announced that as of January 2, 2025, all Amazon employees would be required to return to the office full time. “Andy Jassy, who took over from founder Jeff Bezos in 2020, said the move to end the company's hybrid model was designed toward "being better set up to invent, collaborate, and be connected enough to each other and our culture to deliver the absolute best for customers and the business," NBC reported. “He noted that the company's three-day-a-week policy, instituted in 2023, had only reinforced the view that a full return was necessary.”

“Amazon has become the latest firm to end working from home in the name of company culture—a PwC reports suggests it could have the opposite effect”, said Fortune by way of MSN. “The Big Four accounting firm conducted 13 months of research and surveyed over 20,000 business leaders, chief human resources officers and workers for its new?Workforce Radar Report—and it found that hybrid workers feel more included and productive than those who sit at their company’s desk five days a week…Working in the office 5 days a week to build company culture is a myth, PwC report says.

According to a global online office hours we recently attended, most companies in Europe all back to a work from the office only policy. But is that the right policy today, when companies were literally kept alive during the lockdowns, due to remote work? Were there no takeaways from this inadvertent test of a new corporate work model in this age of technology?

And does the C suite always implement the proper policy for the rank and file?

This just in: Former NYC Covid Czar Held Secret Drug-Fueled Sex Parties During Global Pandemic, all while dictating that businesses be closed and vaccine passports required to be able to carry on every-day life? ?“The former New York City Mayor’s Office Senior Advisor for Public Health Jay Varma admitted to hosting large nude gatherings during the pandemic while urging city residents to remain isolated, according to undercover video posted by podcaster Steven Crowder,” The National Desk (et many als) reported.

Given this, one does have to wonder?what the impetus for the lockdowns truly was, and far be it from us to speculate. For the answer, we defer to ChatGPT, which ‘happily’ gave single-word answers, and don’t shoot the messenger.

Speaking of directives from the top, what if the board walked and in case you missed it, “All seven independent directors of?23andMe?resigned from the company’s board (September 17), a move that CEO Anne Wojcicki said left her “surprised and disappointed,” said CNBC. In a memo to the company’s co-founder, the board stated that?“we differ on the strategic direction for the Company going forward…we believe that it is in the best interests of the Company’s shareholders that we resign from the Board rather than have a protracted and distracting difference of view with you as to the direction of the Company.”

“Far from its onetime valuation of $3.5 billion, 23andMe now has a market cap of under $200 million. The shares closed at 34 cents on Tuesday,” said the CNBC piece. “Losing its glittering board – which included Sequoia Capital’s Roelof Botha and YouTube CEO Neal Mohan, among five others – will likely drive its shares down further,” said TechCrunch. “One question is whether a shareholder lawsuit might follow.” What to speak of the fact that the company’s business model was a one-and-done proposition sans a plan for recurring or even follow-on revenue, so it’s not surprising that the board up and left, especially given that Wojcicki, former wife of Google co-founder Sergey Brin, controls 49% of the board’s voting power.

Wojcicki?does intend to go?ahead with her plan to take the company private again. No word as to whether or not the company will undergo a name change to 23andMeMeMe!

Onward and forward.

This editorial first appeared in the weekly StartupOneStop newsletter.