A CEO who posted a selfie of himself crying on LinkedIn while announcing staff layoffs has hit back after receiving criticism for being out of touch. Braden Wallake, HyperSocial’s CEO, said Wednesday that he wasn’t trying to do it himself.
“No, my intention was not to make it about me or victimize me,” she wrote on LinkedIn. “I’m sorry it came across this way.”
The apology on the professional networking site came a day after he revealed how the layoffs of a number of employees took an emotional toll on him.
“Days like today, I wish I was a business owner who was only driven by money and didn’t care who he hurt along the way,” he wrote Tuesday. “But I’m not. So I just want people to see that not all CEOs are cold-hearted and don’t care when they have to fire people.”
He said whether it’s one or three employees who are being laid off, he recognizes that they could still be working under him if they “had made better decisions.”
“I know it’s not professional to tell my employees that I love them. But from the bottom of my heart, I hope they know how much I do,” he added.
LinkedIn/Braden Wallake
Some praised the publication for the humanity shown by Wallake, including a former employee who was let go by him.
“For those who want to hire me, I’m only interested in working for people like Braden Wallake who has a positive outlook on life,” Noah Smith said.
However, several LinkedIn users did not take too kindly to the photo of him in tears.
“Taking a picture of yourself half-crying to post on social media is ridiculous narcissistic bullshit. He could be the nicest guy in the world, but that doesn’t change the fact that this post is tone-deaf, selfish bullshit.” said James Cave, Microsoft project manager.
Another LinkedIn user who saw the image said she was recently fired and suggested that if her former CEO had posted a selfie like Wallake, he would “lose his mind.”
“Are you crying?” Jackie Stabach wrote. “I’m crying. We’re crying. You still have your job. Imagine if we all posted pictures of the US crying? We’d never get hired, because we’re forced to be RESILIENT in our industries.”
Wallake responded to many of the criticisms under the viral post, but made a new one Wednesday reflecting on the experience. Now, he says, he wants to help people find work for others who are hiring.
“What I want to do now is try to improve this situation and start a thread for people looking for work,” he wrote. “Here it is – comment outside. This is for YOU to start a new future. To make YOU stand out.”
HyperSocial is a marketing services agency based in Columbus, Ohio. According to its LinkedIn profile, it has between 11 and 50 employees.
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