1/ Having read & written hundreds of biographies of business cons, it will be interesting to see what @Facebook & Mark Zuckerberg's legacy will be.
There are definitely two sides to it. Let's start with the positives.
There are definitely two sides to it. Let's start with the positives.
2/ Third richest person, having built the world's largest connective tissue bringing 2B together, usursing MySpace's seemingly unbeatable lead in social, becoming a thorn in side of search superpower @Google. With 2B+ users, Zuck built a Corponation that is pretty much unrivaled.
3/ Buying @instagram @WhatsApp @oculus he buffeted Facebook against key risks. Despite his monopoly, he's fended off critics, confounded politicians, his power & wealth has grown. But when dust settles, it's unlikely that will matter when you juxtapose those virtues with the sins
4/ Steve Jobs, @BillGates, @JeffBezos, Andy Grove, Sergey Brin/Larry Page all balanced good v evil, greed v fear. But no matter how much he tries with philanthropic efforts, Zuck will be far more Murdoch than Gates when dust settles; whose legacy will be Iraq war, Dubya/Trump.
5/ When you tally the wanton destruction Facebook has unleashed - be it the death of the Rohingas in Myanmar, the manipulation of American elections by Russians, bullying & depression it causes - Zuck will go down as the love child of Lex Luthor & Darth Vader.
6/ Even perennial corporate villains - PE head honchos, Big tobacco execs - will be seen in a lesser critical role with less spillover & destructive footprint. At each & every opportunity, he's taken the morally bankrupt option while focused on greed & near-term gain.
7/ It's hard to imagine history books, MBA classes viewing his cotowing to @realDonaldTrump - who quotes segregationists & has called nazis "fine people" - as anything other than the most shameful & crass conduct of any corporate chief let alone tech entrepreneur around.
8/ @peterthiel eventually got off the Trump express; has many redeeming qualities. Zuck has consistently been on the wrong side of character & integrity. From Facebook's founding as a tool to rate female classmates at Harvard, stealing the Winklevoss' ideas. The Beacon debacle.
9/ How craven a character must you be for WhatsApp's @jankoum & @brianacton to leave early and let $1B on the table. A billion. How many lies, how much deceit, how much disappointment must a leader demonstrate for those men to say enough? That's character, that's integrity.
10/ Even by the greed is good standard of the 1980s, Zuck has degraded himself to a level that is bound to make any @Facebook staffer shameful to be an employee there. At first, it's normal to give in to greed and the halo effect of working at a powerhouse like FB...
11/ But eventually no amount of money prestige or power will be enough when your Zuck is seen as a morally-bankrupt opportunist who flips flops when @jack push back on Trump's provocative pronunciations. I get @profgalloway's critique of @JeffBezos but Bezos is saint next to Zuck
12/ I still think Trump may win because the electoral college gives him a path to victory in 2020 no matter how much Covid, racial tensions, unemployment wreak havoc on the country. But...
13/ If Democrats win in 2020, it's imaginable to see how @amazon @Google @Microsoft @Twitter & other tech companies stepped up in one way or another (well, not everyone will see that @karaswisher). Facebook proved now that Zuckerberg's Downfall won't be Greed or Envy, but Hubris.
14/ when you see injustice, inequality, systemic racism, think of the establishment that propped Zuck & created the monster we now have in Trump.
While Silicon Valley on surface is polar opposite of GOP, the groups’ values & priorities r reminder that we reap what we sow. /End.
While Silicon Valley on surface is polar opposite of GOP, the groups’ values & priorities r reminder that we reap what we sow. /End.
