This man is not the adult in the room at the former Gawker Media, just as Kendall Roy was not the adult in the room at Vaulter and Alden Global Capital executives are not the adult in the room at any of the 100 newspapers they are destroying. Sending a copied-and-pasted company handbook, issuing vague edicts about becoming sites for “enthusiasts,” and making inexplicable changes for the sake of making changes are the professional equivalent of a small boy dressing up in his father’s suit: He is role-playing, deluding himself but no one else.
But the adults in the room know that we’re wrong, despite all evidence, because they just know.
As frustrating as it is to read about yet another business mismanaged by ignorant aristocrats, I take tremendous pleasure in this calm, clear, and devastating account being posted to the site it describes as its author heads out the door. There are so many businesses run by people who won't even ask their workers what the business needs, let alone listen when they are told anyway. But the people who actually do the work in a company always know better than the owners. Purchasing a media publication just to have an account of your stupendous failings published by that same company is... [emoji of Goku devouring an entire table of food and then sitting back with a sleepy, satisfied smile]