CEOs who reveal irritability can generate as much anxiety as envy

Footage of Millernall chief executive Andy Owen giving this advice via a video-conference has been leaked online in the US, sparking a social media firestorm. The company, formed after a merger of Herman Miller and rival Knoll, has insisted that the video clip is just 90 seconds of a 75-minute town hall, and says it was taken out of context.

Owen faced quick condemnation in the court of social media opinion, perhaps because the version of a CEO featured in the clip fits perfectly with post-pandemic worker anxiety. Do our bosses think we’re whispering?

Paranoia thrives in the polite inauthenticity that workplaces often require. Owen’s version shown in the video appears to confirm that officers who seem fair and dignified in public are secretly fed up with employees in private.

The now-viral snippet begins with the kind of sympathetic flaw we’ve come to expect from corporate leaders in tough times. “The most important thing we can do right now is to focus on the things we can control,” begins Owen. Be respectful, focus on the future because it will be bright.” Hi.

But then the dam breaks, his anger and frustration spill over. “Don’t ask, ‘What are we going to do if we don’t get the bonus?’ This column. He ends with “Thank you, have a nice day”, before mimicking a mic drop and uttering the word “boom”.

Headline writers immediately picked up on the hypocrisy of a top executive telling employees not to worry about their bonuses. is understandable. This is tone-deaf, especially considering that in three-quarters of companies that hand out bonuses, the word ‘bonus’ refers to a core part of employee compensation, not an unexpected one. Failure to pay indicates financial trouble.

Bonus decisions at Millernall are reportedly yet to be made, including that of the CEO, as the company’s financial year is yet to end.

But the sudden shift into quit-your-whining mode is what really gives the video its emotional impact. Human beings crave a certain amount of validation from authority figures. But what if our boss is secretly so upset?

A degree of employee dread has driven similar moments of managerial candor to the top of most-read lists. When JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon says remote work “doesn’t work” and calls managing directors back into the office five days a week, it prompts other employees to wonder whether their bosses are taking them for granted. Will follow the example. When a manager is caught on camera saying she’s “tired of babysitting,” it goes viral on TikTok as viewers worry their supervisors think the same.

Anxiety is based on reality to some extent. After all, it’s not just because leaders trust their employees that many firms have installed behavior-monitoring software.

And executives recently admitted to The Wall Street Journal that they’re tired of “all the whining” from employees they admire — and secretly wish they could emulate — Twitter CEO Elon. Musk’s abrasive style. Instead, only the most powerful can routinely get away with letting their unfiltered identity take charge.

Women CEOs especially face pressure to hide their frustrations with employees behind a facade of empathy. Decades of research has shown that women leaders are expected to exude the same warmth as their male peers. At the same time, women may not look ‘good enough’ or they will be dismissed as incompetent. It is a double bind that requires extreme skill to navigate.

In the first part of the video, Owen gives a master class in walking this tightrope. That’s in line with the version of himself displayed in a candid 2021 interview with The New York Times about his leadership roles at Herman Miller and The Gap, where he worked his way up from the retail floor.

But this isn’t the version of Owen viewers see in the video’s conclusion, where the sudden revelation of a tougher, more decisive boss comes as a shock.

For an employee, this is dangerous. But for an executive? Perhaps the emotion the video stirs up is envy.

Sarah Greene Carmichael is Bloomberg Opinion Editor.