Introduction

Screenshot by NPR/YouTube

Not that long ago, CEOs could put their feet in their mouths with relative impunity. Many did without facing meaningful consequences from colleagues, underlings, and the media.

Those days, however, have largely come to an end, but MillerKnoll CEO Andi Owen never got the memo.

Owen’s video on employee bonuses has predictably gone viral. One version of it posted on Twitter sports more than 7 million views as of this writing.

Owen banked more than $4 million in bonuses in 2022. The words tone deaf come to mind.

Like it or not, we live in an age of employee empowerment. (It’s the first of the forces in The Nine: The Tectonic Forces Reshaping the Workplace.) You can either fight this force or recognize that the world has changed for good.

Simon Says: Employee empowerment isn’t going away anytime soon.

No, you can’t make everyone happy, but actions like Owen’s are counterproductive. Her message won’t  inspire the troops. Rather, expect a great deal of employee disengagement at MillerKnoll over the next few months. Ditto for quitting—the real and the quiet types.

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