Theatre of the Absurd Leadership
Social media is rife with stories of out-of-touch CEOs exhibiting tone-deaf or outright shocking behavior. Recently, Daksh Gupta, CEO of AI startup Greptile, joined their ranks with this post on X:
“Recently, I started telling candidates right in the first interview that Greptile offers no work-life balance. Typical workdays begin at 9 am and end at 11 pm, often later, and we work Saturdays, sometimes also Sundays. I emphasize the environment is high stress, and there is no tolerance for poor work.”
Let that sink in. Gupta proudly touts a workplace devoid of work-life balance, with undefined standards like “poor work” and a high-stress environment as selling points. Does “poor work” mean mistakes? I wonder. Gupta himself must have made a few. Using a global platform to advertise running a sweatshop signals either ignorance or arrogance. A competent HR professional would likely advise against this, though Greptile’s website suggests HR isn’t a priority—neither are teamwork, communication, or leadership.
Speaking of the website, the “About Us” section features a self-congratulatory note from Gupta extolling his one year of Silicon Valley experience. It’s unclear if Gupta realizes that employees—not his supposed brilliance—are the backbone of any company’s success. What happens when employees face illness, bereavement, or need time off? Is termination the response?
Greptile’s tone-deaf messaging aligns with a growing trend of executive missteps. From the CEO of Better.com laying off 15% of his workforce in one Zoom meeting to Wayfair’s leader linking layoffs to a lecture on long hours, there’s a disturbing pattern of neglecting employees’ humanity. And let’s not forget the Frontier Airlines CEO, who criticized employees for supposed laziness during the pandemic. Daksh Gupta, however, distinguishes himself by being young enough to assume omniscience but inexperienced enough to misunderstand that treating employees poorly rarely translates into long-term success.
Employees drive innovation, profitability, and growth. Dismissing them as mere cogs in the machine is not leadership—it’s folly. Greptile seems poised to become yet another cautionary tale of what happens when a CEO prioritizes ego over empathy. This is truly the theatre of the absurd, and it will be fascinating to see how this act ends.