Should Mark Zuckerberg step down as CEO and/or chair of Facebook, as some critics and even shareholders have suggested? It’s easy to fall into one of two extreme camps: either “The behavior is so bad that it is time for him to go,” or “This is just an entrepreneur showing the level of singlemindedness essential to entrepreneurial success: Leave him alone.”
Should Mark Zuckerberg Resign?
He needs to either drastically shift his thinking or leave.
January 08, 2019
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Summary.
The central question is whether Zuckerberg can shift his thinking enough to begin a truly new era as CEO, or whether he can only begin such an era after leaving Facebook. What would such a shift look like? It would that focusing on the maximum monetization potential of every single one of his two billion plus users is not the same as actually treating them with the respect they deserve. And that, even if he doesn’t want to believe Facebook is a media company, continuing to argue that it is just a neutral technology platform is abdicating an important social responsibility. In effect, he would have to shift his thinking to become both statesman and CEO.