Entire 23andMe board resigns, Former Pixar employees allege toxic culture

Greetings, comms pros! Let’s take a look at a few news stories from the past week and see what we can learn from them.

1. All 23andMe board members quit except the CEO

Seven of the eight board members of biotech company 23andMe tendered their resignations to CEO Anne Wojcicki, claiming differences in the company’s future direction.

In a press release of the letter, the board said they still stood for the company’s mission, but t differed with Wojcicki on how to get there:

While we continue to wholeheartedly support the Company’s mission and believe deeply in the value of the personalized health and wellness offering that you have articulated, it is also clear that we differ on the strategic direction for the Company going forward. Because of that difference and because of your concentrated voting power, we believe that it is in the best interests of the Company’s shareholders that we resign from the Board rather than have a protracted and distracting difference of view with you as to the direction of the Company.

In her response to the company’s employees obtained by CNBC, Wojcicki said she was “surprised and disappointed” by the move and that taking the company private will help achieve shareholder goals:

The scope of internal comms often includes executive communication, but this situation is a reminder that exec comms requires  board communication and investor relations skills as well.

Executive communicators who understand the connections between their executive messaging and investor relations will be better positioned to create content that inspires investor confidence, which can reap positive results for the executives and create a loop of trust.

2. Former Pixar employees decry the animation studio’s employee culture

According to a report from IGN, the experience of working at animation studio Pixar isn’t as magical as the movies, especially in the wake of the release of “Inside Out 2”.

Earlier this year, Pixar announced job cuts affecting 14% of its staff to refocus work on feature film production. The IGN report said that between the extreme work crunches that went into Inside Out 2 coupled with the layoffs and lost bonuses, many Pixar employees reported feeling burnt out.

​​“I would venture that at least 95% of the people that got laid off are financially f*cked right now,” one person says.

“The internal culture of Pixar right now is really rough,” one former employee says. “There is just an incredible amount of people who are like, ‘I can’t do this anymore.’ “

Situations like this are remedied by having comms and employee wellness mechanisms in place to avoid burnout. Periodic check-ins from managers, wellness resources that are readily communicated from leadership down, and open conversations about mental wellness at work are all ways to avoid these situations.

The piece also includes complaints about  Chief Creative Officer Pete Docter, an  executive producer of “Inside Out 2” who multiple sources said served as an unofficial co-director.

While some credited Docter with the film’s success, others cited  a “god-like worship” of the CCO.

“You cannot do anything without Pete. Literally nothing,” a former employee said of the current executive. “And that creates a bottleneck.”

These words offer a reminder that leaders who demand absolute control and oversight can actively hurt productivity and morale in one fell swoop.

Those who have an executive audience would do well to surface this incident as an example of the power in trusting your team to do work. If leaders can’t communicate a standard and drive that behavior in their reports without letting go, they aren’t effective leaders.

3 . Boeing slashes executive compensation and furloughs nonunion workers as strike wears on

Amid a strike and ongoing negotiations with 33,000 members of the International Association of Machinists, Boeing is temporarily cutting executive pay and furloughing nonunion workers.

According to CBS News:

Chief Executive Kelly Ortberg said the people who would be required to take time off without pay starting in coming days include executives, managers and other employees based in the U.S.

“While this is a tough decision that impacts everybody, it is in an effort to preserve our long-term future and help us navigate through this very difficult time,” Ortberg said in a company-wide message to staff.

Boeing didn’t say how many people will face rolling furloughs, but the number is expected to run into the tens of thousands. The aerospace giant had 171,000 employees at the start of the year.

As we wrote about this year, it takes a skilled, nuanced approach to engage in labor comms the right way. The three biggest union comms keys are:

• Acknowledgment of worker rights.
• Communicating within your mission and values.
• Ensuring leaders are prepared to talk about labor movements.

That last point is especially important, and optics matter beyond just what you say. For instance, Fox 13 Seattle reported that Ortberg closed on a multi-million dollar home as many workers were on the picket lines, drawing their ire, especially after saying “no one wins” in a strike.

“You know, we’re not asking for much. And we’re happy that he can afford a nice new mansion, some of us can’t. Some of us are paycheck to paycheck,” added (Boeing employee) Ethel Dominique.

Take heed, executive communicators: employees will not only pay attention to what your leaders say, but how they say it and what they do in hard times.

4. How about some good news?

• New carbon fiber batteries could become the future of electric vehicles.
• An expedition to the Titanic found a long lost ‘Diana of Versailles’ statue on the sea floor.
• Scientists found scientific accuracies in Van Gogh’s ‘Starry Night’.
• Ragan Training is great for communications pros to find inspiration and resources.
• You should be rewarded for your work. Find out how to earn an award here!

Have a great weekend comms all-stars!

Sean Devlin is an editor at Ragan Communications. In his spare time he enjoys Philly sports, a good pint and ’90s trivia night.