
Away says co-CEO Steph Korey will step down this year after attacks on the media - hhs
https://www.theverge.com/2020/7/2/21312005/away-employees-steph-korey-instagram
======
devmunchies
> who found that her decision to write about the media in the midst of her
> maternity leave, rather than Black Lives Matter or Pride, reflected poorly
> on the brand

people have different interests. and not everybody wants to be an activist. in
fact people should be encouraged to talk about different issues.

It's crazy to be ousted from your company while on maternity leave because you
tweeted about "editorial standards" and "defamation lawsuits" without first
making a public statement about BLM.

~~~
askafriend
You're missing the full story. This isn't the first incident. [1]

This is a grassroots effort coming directly from employees. Her company
consists of human beings that work towards business goals. Plain and simple -
she couldn't set her ego aside to actually do the work of leading these
people.

After the first incident, she issued and apology and stepped down. Then she
deleted any trace of her apology, said she regretted "falling on her sword"
publicly, and then became co-CEO again. Now she's stepping down again.

This is not normal behavior. And if she could actually lead (which surprise -
involves people and gaining their trust) then she wouldn't have found herself
in this predicament in the first place. She failed at her basic duty and
should not be CEO or anywhere near the C-suite.

[1] [https://www.theverge.com/2019/12/5/20995453/away-luggage-
ceo...](https://www.theverge.com/2019/12/5/20995453/away-luggage-ceo-steph-
korey-toxic-work-environment-travel-inclusion)

~~~
Nextgrid
This might not be the first "incident", but it still sets a dangerous
precedent where not posting about whatever social cause is currently being
hyped up becomes dangerous for your career.

~~~
microtherion
I think the controversy was not so much about the "not posting about a social
cause" but about what she _did_ post, i.e. the pursuit of a vendetta against a
journalist who first exposed her behavior.

~~~
aklemm
Exactly. The parent to your reply typifies the intellectual dishonesty we’re
seeing in the anti-protest efforts. It’s really pathetic.

~~~
Nextgrid
I am not anti-protest at all and actually support the BLM cause. To be honest
I have nothing to gain from taking any side anyway.

However, I am very concerned that _not_ posting something can now be seen as a
bad thing. It used to be that as long as you don't post "bad" things you'll be
fine, now it seems that you _have_ to post certain things (potentially
contrary to your interests, opinions or the primary purpose of that particular
social media feed) otherwise you'll be labelled as a "bad" person.

When does it end? Does not having any significant social media presence on
which to post this stuff now also make you a "bad" person?

~~~
dundarious
She did post a bad thing, and someone made a reference to BLM as a big
societal thing someone might post about instead. You could get the same point
across with "instead of posting about building her new gaming rig". There
isn't even a quotation on the BLM remark.

------
pmiller2
Based on [https://www.theverge.com/2019/12/5/20995453/away-luggage-
ceo...](https://www.theverge.com/2019/12/5/20995453/away-luggage-ceo-steph-
korey-toxic-work-environment-travel-inclusion) I suspect that "attacks on the
media" were not the reason for this, or, at least, were not the whole reason.
She sounds like a terrible person, and a manager who abuses employees.

------
yaacov
> The posts rankled some workers, who found that her decision to write about
> the media in the midst of her maternity leave, rather than Black Lives
> Matter or Pride, reflected poorly on the brand.

How is this real?

~~~
dundarious
I'd urge you to read
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23719797](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23719797)
and its replies. I think that's a misleading sentence, because BLM, etc., are
absolutely irrelevant to the substance of the complaint about her posts.

~~~
yaacov
Yeah agreed that the substance of the complaint might have some merit. This
sentence just really rubbed me the wrong way.

------
dundarious
To me, this is an unforced error by Steph Korey. She seemed to have outlived
the media cycle about her previous unacceptable behavior. But then she decided
to relight the embers in an attempt to deflect blame even further. I hope her
departure (for real this time) will fortify the push to have reasonable work
hours and communication at Away.

------
pl0x
Now Ben Horowitz has to step down from a16z out of respect to Taylor.

~~~
dundarious
I read about the history of this incident, all for the first time today,
through someone linking me to the Twitter back-and-forth between @TaylorLorenz
and @bhorowitz.
[https://twitter.com/TaylorLorenz/status/1278506515679322112?...](https://twitter.com/TaylorLorenz/status/1278506515679322112?s=20)

Reading the original expose,
[https://www.theverge.com/2019/12/5/20995453/away-luggage-
ceo...](https://www.theverge.com/2019/12/5/20995453/away-luggage-ceo-steph-
korey-toxic-work-environment-travel-inclusion) ; Korey's message in stepping
down,
[https://twitter.com/sallyshin/status/1203007359762649088](https://twitter.com/sallyshin/status/1203007359762649088)
; the NYT piece about her return (just a name change, folks, she was never
really stepping down at all!),
[https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/13/business/steph-korey-
away...](https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/13/business/steph-korey-away.html) ;
to this second "stepping down" announcement.

In my opinion, Korey's behavior in the original expose was unacceptable, never
mind toxic for the brand, so I find Ben's behavior immature. He's crying wolf
with his claim that this is cancel culture and just a Twitter war.

