CEO Who Fired 900 Employees On A Zoom Call: A case Study

Priya BhadaurjaDecember 15, 2021

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Case Study

Vishal Garg’s video instantly became viral.

His name will go down in corporate history, permanently used in case studies on bad leadership, due to one ill-advised Zoom call.

Garg convened a Zoom meeting with 900 of his staff.

“If you’re on this call, you’re a member of the unfortunate group getting laid off,” he said, and it went viral. I sobbed the last time I noticed [something]. I wish the news was more positive. I wish we were doing well.”

He has since been heavily criticized for the harsh and indifferent manner in which he eliminated so many people. His head of marketing, head of public affairs, vice president of comms, head of communications, as well as head of PR all quit within a week of the Zoom conversation.

His poor management of a sensitive matter has made international news as well as sparked a social networking trend.
Unfortunately, this isn’t Garg’s first blunder as a founder, leader, as well as businessman. Garg has made yet another gaffe, adding to a long as well as growing list.

I’ve published a number of essays about successful entrepreneurs and leaders and the lessons they can teach us.
On the contrary, this is true.

It’s a case study about what not to do as a leader as well as a business founder – the blueprint to avoid.
Consider this a guide to poor leadership for the uninitiated.

Before eBay, There Was A Success Story

Entrepreneurs frequently recount their beginnings as well as how they became businessmen as soon as they were capable of moving.

Many students begin their companies by selling products to peers at a profit. Garg was no exception, selling CliffNotes and books to his classmates.

His new business initiative, on the other hand, appears to be a ruse.

He transitioned from selling books to purchasing thrift shop garments as well as reselling them on eBay in a 2019 podcast. The fact that eBay did not exist while he was in high school is a major flaw in this assertion.

Partner, Please Light My Fire

Garg met Raza Khan during studying in New York, as well as the two co-founded MyRichUncle around 2000. It was an internet student loan company that used methods to assist students to decide on loan conditions.

It became a publicly traded corporation having $320 million in loans generated in 7 years. However, the global financial crisis of 2008 forced the company to declare bankruptcy as well as subsequently liquidate.

Not to be discouraged, the partners launched EIFC, a company that assessed loan portfolios to determine possible troublesome loans, using the tools they had created for Rich people.

The EIFC lasted until 2013, when Khan, as well as Garg, switched on each other.

Garg denies Khan’s allegation that he improperly shifted $3 million from EIFC to his personal bank account.

Garg went on to start Better.com, an online mortgage broker, which prompted Khan to file yet another litigation.

Khan claimed that Garg utilized stolen technologies to help establish Better.com on this occasion.

Garg responded by filing a counterclaim. “I’m gonna staple Khan against a wall as well as set him on fire,” Garg claimed in a deposition for the litigation. Especially in a public forum where it would be recorded in perpetuity.

Sachs Describes Him As “Not A Good Man.”

His founding tale for Better.com also appears to contain flaws.

Garg claims he launched the business using the money he had set aside for a down payment on a house. In reality, he’s been accused of stealing “tens of millions of dollars,” some of which he used to start Better.com as well as some of which he spent in other technology firms.

Even Goldman Sachs, which spent in Better.com, has taken legal action against Garg, accusing him of “flagrant self-dealing.”

You don’t include lawsuits in your business strategy whenever starting a company. Garg, on the other hand, could have done it. “Litigation is a sad part of life for successful startups as well as their CEOs,” his lawyer said.

Willy Should Be Set Free.

Was the following copy

Some Of MCQ

B) A paragraph created by an AI writing tool depending on my typing Dolphin Fails In Olympic Race

C) A paragraph from an email written by the CEO of a $4 billion corporation.

Unfortunately, as you may have guessed, the answer is C. It was a type of email from Garg to his employees that was published in Forbes magazine.

This isn’t how you communicate with employees, even if you don’t use ALL CAPS, which should be avoided in a business email. In this scenario, the humiliation is self-inflicted.

It did, however, provide the groundwork for Garg’s Zoom call.

Trump Is Half-Terminator And Half-Trump. There Is No Empathy

Despite the several litigations, Garg had built a tremendously profitable company with a $4 billion valuation. During the pandemic, he was able to complete 3 rounds of capital raising and even engage an extra 2000 people.

This was obviously too much for Garg, so he decided to give his best Donald Trump impression on The Apprentice. He made the decision all about himself, with no empathy or sympathy for the 900 individuals he was about to fire.

He said that he had sobbed in the past while sacking staff, but claimed he planned to “be stronger” this time. At the very least, he maintained his word, despite his crocodile tears.

I’m not sure which is worse: the reality that he sought to elicit compassion from the same persons he was going to kill or the reality that he was “stronger” & didn’t even cry.

Did This Imply That He Wasn’t As Enraged By The Mass Shooting As He Had Been Previously?

All workers who were let go, even those who didn’t actually make the Zoom conference, lost access to their computers whenever the call finished. We’ve all missed a workplace Zoom meeting before, but those who missed this one were locked out of their computers without understanding why. It only contributed to the perplexity.

As if that wasn’t enough, Garg later stated that his employees were “lazy and unmotivated,” noting that “they were stealing from you and stealing from our clients” on social site Tie.

Several managers disagreed, claiming that several of the employees let go were high-performing.
Despite this, Garg did not retract his remarks.

“I believe they could have been put better, but the meaning is clear.”

Do The Benefits Outweigh The Drawbacks?

“You must push your partner to the breaking point, then destroy them.” They must be broken. They must be punished. Penalize them as though they’d taken chocolates from your younger sister.” Viral Better.Com was started by Garg Garg, who has built a very profitable firm. You don’t build a $4 billion firm unless you’re a successful businessman. Garg and Khan were featured in BusinessWeek’s “Tech’s Best Young Businesses” list in 2006. He was named to Forbes’ Fintech 50 list last year.

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However, it appears that he is not a good business partner. Or a capable leader. Alternatively, you may be the CEO. Or maybe you’re an email writer. Considering his lies, he may not even be a decent narrator. The list could go on and on.
I’d want to ask you, the reader if you think that’s essential.

Do shareholders but also investors care, or are they only concerned with the end result as well as their investment returns?

Many successful companies have been immoral or unethical in their business practices, but they are still lauded for their achievements.

To be considered entirely effective, I believe you must succeed in all aspects of the business.
That’s why I believe we can learn from Garg — and, in many situations, do the complete opposite of what he did.