Better and Modern Management

August 29, 2023

I spotted this amusing (at least to me) article: “Shares of Better.com — Whose CEO Fired 900 Workers on a Zoom Call — Slumped 95% on Their First Day of Trade.” The main idea of the story strikes me as “modern management.” The article explains that Better.com helps its customers get mortgages. The company went public. The IPO was interesting because shares cratered.

“Hmmm. I wonder if my management approach could be improved?” asks the bold leader. MidJourney has confused down pat.

Other highlights from the story struck me as reasonably important:

The CEO fired 900 employees via a Zoom call in 2021
The CEO allegedly accused 250 of those employees of false time keeping
The CEO underwent “leadership training”
The company is one of the semi-famous Softbank venture firm.

Several ideas passed through my mind:

Softbank does have a knack for selecting companies to back
Training courses may not be effective
Former employers may find the management expertise of the company ineffectual.

I love the name Better. The question is, “Better at what?” Perhaps the Better management team could learn from the real superstars of leadership; for example, Google, X, and the Zuckbook?

Stephen E Arnold, August 29, 2023

Written by Stephen E. Arnold · Filed Under Management, News

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Stephen E. Arnold monitors search, content processing, text mining and related topics from his high-tech nerve center in rural Kentucky. He tries to winnow the goose feathers from the giblets. He works with colleagues worldwide to make this Web log useful to those who want to go "beyond search". Contact him at sa [at] arnoldit.com. His Web site with additional information about search is arnoldit.com.