How likely is it that the board hasn’t released specific details about Sam’s removal because of legal reasons? At this point, I feel like I have to place overwhelmingly high probability on this.
My mainline guess is that information about bad behaviour by Sam was disclosed to them by various individuals, and they owe a duty of confidence to those individuals (where revealing the information might identify the individuals, who might thereby become subject to some form of retaliation).
(“Legal reasons” also gets some of my probability mass.)
It might not be legal reasons specifically, but some hard-to-specify mix of legal reasons/intimidation/bullying. While it’s useful to discuss specific ideas, it should be kept in mind that Altman doesn’t need to restrict his actions to any specific avenue that could be neatly classified.
She does confirm she can’t give all of the examples (though points to the ones that were reported), however. Which is not nothing, but eh. However, she also mentioned it was under-reported how much people were scared of Sam and he was creating a very toxic environment.
“legal reasons” is pretty vague. With billions of dollars at stake, it seems like public statements can be used against them more than it helps them, should things come down to lawsuits. It’s also the case that board members are people, and want to maintain their ability to work and have influence in future endeavors, so want to be seen as systemic cooperators.
I should have specified WHO they want to cooperate with in the future. People with lots of money to spend—businesses. Silence is far preferable to badmouthing former coworkers.
How likely is it that the board hasn’t released specific details about Sam’s removal because of legal reasons? At this point, I feel like I have to place overwhelmingly high probability on this.
So, if this is the case, what legal reason is it?
My mainline guess is that information about bad behaviour by Sam was disclosed to them by various individuals, and they owe a duty of confidence to those individuals (where revealing the information might identify the individuals, who might thereby become subject to some form of retaliation).
(“Legal reasons” also gets some of my probability mass.)
I think this sounds reasonable, but if this is true, why wouldn’t they just say this?
It might not be legal reasons specifically, but some hard-to-specify mix of legal reasons/intimidation/bullying. While it’s useful to discuss specific ideas, it should be kept in mind that Altman doesn’t need to restrict his actions to any specific avenue that could be neatly classified.
My question for as to why they can’t share all the examples was not answered, but Helen gives background on what happened here: https://open.spotify.com/episode/4r127XapFv7JZr0OPzRDaI?si=QdghGZRoS769bGv5eRUB0Q&context=spotify%3Ashow%3A6EBVhJvlnOLch2wg6eGtUa
She does confirm she can’t give all of the examples (though points to the ones that were reported), however. Which is not nothing, but eh. However, she also mentioned it was under-reported how much people were scared of Sam and he was creating a very toxic environment.
“legal reasons” is pretty vague. With billions of dollars at stake, it seems like public statements can be used against them more than it helps them, should things come down to lawsuits. It’s also the case that board members are people, and want to maintain their ability to work and have influence in future endeavors, so want to be seen as systemic cooperators.
But surely “saying nearly nothing” ranks among the worst-possible options for being seen as a “systemic cooperator”?
I should have specified WHO they want to cooperate with in the future. People with lots of money to spend—businesses. Silence is far preferable to badmouthing former coworkers.