Saudi Press

Saudi Arabia and the world
Tuesday, Oct 07, 2025

CEOs can't bully their employees anymore. Elon Musk's failed ultimatum to Twitter employees is proof of that.

CEOs can't bully their employees anymore. Elon Musk's failed ultimatum to Twitter employees is proof of that.

Business leaders have a right to demand hard work from employees, but being too aggressive can have the opposite effect — making them quit.
Elon Musk's ultimatum to Twitter workers holds a lesson for his fellow CEOs: Tread lightly.

The decision by reportedly at least 1,200 Twitter employees to choose three-months' severance over Musk's promise of "extremely hardcore" working conditions could put the company's future at risk, as key staff are reported to have departed.

For these workers — including the ones who hung up on Musk in a video call in which he was trying to convince them to stay — the certainty of a few more paychecks beats logging long hours in what could be a bruising environment. In part, we have the pandemic to thank, among other factors.

Musk's authoritarian leadership style might have worked before — and still might in some industries — but in many cases, the voice-of-God approach no longer causes as many employees to snap to attention.

Many workers are tired and unhappy with the status quo, and that's a sign leaders should proceed with caution. Sure, many CEOs are worried about a recession and they're going to be demanding more. But they need to be smart about how they communicate and what they ask of their people because workers are no longer automatically saying, "How high?" when leaders tell them to jump.

A good CEO's response shouldn't show aggression: While CEOs can demand workers do their best, they can't do so with such force and with such disregard for workers' wellbeing and still expect to get good results.

The pandemic accelerated changes to a transforming employer-employee contract

Since the arrival of the pandemic, many workers have rejiggered their priorities, changed jobs, or "quiet quit" after suffering burnout. Even among those with less freedom than well-paid tech employees, many have unionized to demand better compensation and working conditions.

Consider Starbucks staffers, who this week went on strike at some locations during the coffee chain's annual Red Cup Day, one of the company's busiest. Workers are demanding more help and more good-faith bargaining even as they stare down what could be another economic funk.

Of course, workers in some industries might find it harder to push back. JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon, among others, has been forceful about calling workers back to the office. Many bankers are back to their old commutes.

Yet in the comparatively laid-back confines of tech, where worker autonomy is sacrosanct, Musk seems to have miscalculated. Multiple critical teams at Twitter are now nearly defunct and several leading engineers have departed the company, according to the Verge. In response, Twitter closed its offices until Monday.

This resignation en masse led at least one staffer to question whether the platform can recover from this loss of talent.

This is likely not what Musk had planned. And it underscores that just because someone is a powerful CEO, it doesn't mean he's wise to treat workers like cogs in a machine.

1COVID1-19 was a turning point for many. Millions of workers went from spinning their wheels on commutes and working in cubicles to having more time with family and working from home. At the same time, remote workers put in more hours than ever. They've come to expect the same dedication and care they put into their work from the CEOs; they want their mental health to be prioritized, McKinsey research shows.

"Companies need to recognize that the power dynamic has changed," Karin Kimbrough, chief economist at LinkedIn wrote in a blog post. "Workers are going to demand more from them on multiple fronts. Candidates are being much more selective about where they work, and workers are more vocal about what they want."
Newsletter

Related Articles

Saudi Press
0:00
0:00
Close
Wave of Complaints Against Apple Over iPhone 17 Pro’s Scratch Sensitivity
Syria Holds First Elections Since Fall of Assad
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
Nvidia and Abu Dhabi’s TII Launch First AI-&-Robotics Lab in the Middle East
UK, Canada, and Australia Officially Recognise Palestine in Historic Shift
New Eye Drops Show Promise in Replacing Reading Glasses for Presbyopia
Dubai Property Boom Shows Strain as Flippers Get Buyer’s Remorse
Top AI Researchers Are Heading Back to China as U.S. Struggles to Keep Pace
JWST Data Brings TRAPPIST-1e Closer to Earth-Like Habitability
UAE-US Stargate Project Poised to Make Abu Dhabi a Global AI Powerhouse
Trump and Starmer Clash Over UK Recognition of Palestinian State Amid State Visit
Saudi Arabia cracks down on music ‘lounges’ after conservative backlash
Saudi Arabia Signs ‘Strategic Mutual Defence’ Pact with Pakistan, Marking First Arab State to Gain Indirect Access to Nuclear Strike Capabilities in the Region
Sam Altman sells the 'Wedding Estate' in Hawaii for 49 million dollars
Turkish car manufacturer Togg Enters German Market with 5-Star Electric Sedan and SUV to Challenge European EV Brands
World’s Longest Direct Flight China Eastern to Launch 29-Hour Shanghai–Buenos Aires Direct Flight via Auckland in December
New OpenAI Study Finds Majority of ChatGPT Use Is Personal, Not Professional
Kuwait opens bidding for construction of three cities to ease housing crunch.
This Week in AI: Meta’s Superintelligence Push, xAI’s Ten Billion-Dollar Raise, Genesis AI’s Robotics Ambitions, Microsoft Restructuring, Amazon’s Million-Robot Milestone, and Google’s AlphaGenome Update
Indian Student Engineers Propose “Project REBIRTH” to Protect Aircraft from Crashes Using AI, Airbags and Smart Materials
Could AI Nursing Robots Help Healthcare Staffing Shortages?
Turkish authorities seize leading broadcaster amid fraud and tax investigation
Qatari prime minister says Netanyahu ‘killed any hope’ for Israeli hostages
Apple Introduces Ultra-Thin iPhone Air, Enhanced 17 Series and New Health-Focused Wearables
Big Oil Slashes Jobs and Investments Amid Prolonged Low Crude Prices
Social Media Access Curtailed in Turkey After CHP Calls for Rallies Following Police Blockade of Istanbul Headquarters
Did the Houthis disrupt the internet in the Middle East? Submarine cables cut in the Red Sea
Gold Could Reach Nearly $5,000 if Fed Independence Is Undermined, Goldman Sachs Warns
Uruguay, Colombia and Paraguay Secure Places at 2026 World Cup
Trump Administration Advances Plans to Rebrand Pentagon as Department of War Instead of the Fake Term Department of Defense
Tether Expands into Gold Sector with Profit-Driven Diversification
Trump’s New War – and the ‘Drug Tyrant’ Fearing Invasion: ‘1,200 Missiles Aimed at Us’
At the Parade in China: Laser Weapons, 'Eagle Strike,' and a Missile Capable of 'Striking Anywhere in the World'
Information Warfare in the Age of AI: How Language Models Become Targets and Tools
Israeli Airstrike in Yemen Kills Houthi Prime Minister
After the Shock of Defeat, Iranians Yearn for Change
YouTube Altered Content by Artificial Intelligence – Without Permission
Iran Faces Escalating Water Crisis as Protests Spread
More Than Half a Million Evacuated as Typhoon Kajiki Heads for Vietnam
HSBC Switzerland Ends Relationships with Over 1,000 Clients from Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Qatar, and Egypt
Sharia Law Made Legally Binding in Austria Despite Warnings Over 'Incompatible' Values
Dogfights in the Skies: Airbus on Track to Overtake Boeing and Claim Aviation Supremacy
Tim Cook Promises an AI Revolution at Apple: "One of the Most Significant Technologies of Our Generation"
Are AI Data Centres the Infrastructure of the Future or the Next Crisis?
Miles Worth Billions: How Airlines Generate Huge Profits
Zelenskyy Returns to White House Flanked by European Allies as Trump Pressures Land-Swap Deal with Putin
Beijing is moving into gold and other assets, diversifying away from the dollar
×