HyperSocial CEO Braden Wallake was positively roasted for a recent announcement on LinkedIn about his company beginning layoffs.
The announcement accompanied a selfie of Wallake crying and a caption that read, “This will be the most vulnerable thing I’ll ever share, I made a decision in February and stuck with that decision for far too long. Now, I know my team will say that; we made that decision together, but I lead us into it. And because of those failings, I had to do today, the toughest thing I’ve ever had to do. #vulnerabilities”
The post went viral and people quickly picked sides; some supported Wallake in the comment section, noting that he was being “vulnerable.” Others criticized the emotional post and cited that it disregarded the employees.
One user on LinkedIn wrote, “How about using your network to help those employees find new jobs by tagging them and putting them in the spotlight, as opposed to whining about making difficult decisions as a leader and posting a crying selfie? This is one of the most out-of-touch posts I’ve seen in a long time.”
Not long after the comment, Wallake posted a profile of one of his laid-off employees. In the post, he encouraged other companies to hire the man.
Wallake’s post, however, sparked a new meme of others sharing their “sob stories” to mock the CEO.
Another Twitter user, @aishamadeit, wrote, “my question is how many crying selfie pics did that CEO take before he picked one to post.”
Wallake has doubled down on his LinkedIn post since it took off.
“The reason [I haven’t deleted it] is because I am getting countless messages from other business owners saying, ‘love this, been there, worst feeling, right there with you,’” Wallake said to PR Week. “There is a lot of good that has come from this post, but I am trying to not sit there reading the negative [comments].”