If the CEO knew this person’s name, it’s likely he was already in money, and not going straight to panhandling after this. Sucks when that happens, but my tragedy-o-meter’s needle is barely twitching.
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AOL had a Creative Director? Yeah, he obviously wasn’t very good at his job, given the quality of creativity we’ve seen from them.
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Two wrongs. The employee should have been told to put the camera away. It was not appropriate. However, losing temper and snapping does not suggest good things either, and it is just as much of an embarrassment.
If he determined he needed to terminate the employee, he should have done so in an appropriate manner, time, and place. Both of these people come out looking bad this way, and he just handed the employee cause to sue. This is very shortsighted and irresponsible behavior for a leader.
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There are rules in life. Please follow them.
Apparently there had been a series of leaks from the company from these meetings.
Like, for example, the leak of the knowledge that an internal bigwig was fired during an internal conference call.
I don’t think it’s too huge an overreaction given that knowledge of this was… leaked to the press 
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It was if we expect our leaders to demonstrate leadership rather than act like petty children.
There are about ninety ways it could have been handled maturely, he chose another route.
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We don’t know what happened in the past with this guy. We don’t know a lot. What we do know is a guy was fired for taking a picture of a CEO announcing massive layoffs. We do know that this company has a history of leaks hitting the mainstream press. And we know this and only this because, presumably, the guy with the picture (cause there IS a picture) likely leaked it.
So the only side of this story is from the guy who leaked the story to the press… who claims he was fired because the company he was working for was sick of leaks.
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Okay, if the entire thing is made up, then I take that back.
If, however, he did fire another human being in public or on a call, then I un-take it back. THAT is the part that proves that he does not belong in a position of authority, it was childish and immature.
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Oh, I don’t think it’s made up. I think he fired the guy on the call.
I also think there was a rule about recording this or taking pictures during the call, and … well, if you blatantly flout the rules right in the CEO’s face… ya get what you deserve. I don’t think it’s childish or immature, since this way it sends the message that the leaking and disrespect on a professional call is OVER.
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That’s only considered true because that sort of childish behavior is considered socially acceptable.
That doesn’t make it mature,people in positions of authority SHOULD be more responsible, I could have easily handled that in his shoes (politely had him put down the phone, tabled the firing for later)
NOBODY ever deserves to be humiliated, ever. And nobody should ever humiliate anybody. That’s a dick move.
We need to raise the bar, not make excuses for this sort of madness.
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He wasn’t on the phone. He was in the room, listening to the call, with the CEO who was talking about firing and laying off thousands… when he decided now was a great time to take a picture of the CEO who was firing thousands.
Why is this ever an acceptable behavior? We talk about how people should be mature in positions of authority, but this guy fired was ALSO a high ranking official in Patch. He wasn’t some scrub out in the crowd or making 5 digits. He was the creative director of the entire company, with histories of C level executiveships. He’ll find a job elsewhere. Why is his behavior, of taking a picture in the middle of a conference call of this importance with high level people, an acceptable thing?
It may not be professional to fire him on the spot.
It’s also not professional to take a photo to send to the business e-press to run with the headline of “AOL CEO Firing thousands” or whatever the person he was leaking it to would run.
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What, I don’t get it. Are we upset about AOL being run by a profiteering privateer or are we upset that they are run by a privateering profiteer?
I mean, it’s not like they’ve had a legitimate product in 10 years. 
Correct. And two wrongs don’t make a right. There was a point in time where only one of the two was apparently doing something stupid, and Armstrong had to top him.
So, some other context. I found the fired guy’s twitter account, and he kinda “no comments” the being dismissed allegation. And then says “Go Patch”, which is the name of the company he supposedly got fired from.
As for “topping him”, you’re a ceo, in a conference call. You have a history of having things be leaked. The creative director bigwig has a history of leaking things on twitter. He picks up the phone in the middle of the “I’m laying off thousands” and snaps a picture of you. He’s probably been recording it too. Do you let him stay, get the rest of the meeting to leak to the press, or do you get him out of there?
This isn’t something you can “take down for later action.” This is a guy who apparently is leaking things who just did it right in front of you. He’s at least got to leave the room, right?
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Yes, in a civilized, respectful way. Not the petty way in which he did it. He only behaves that way because he can get away with it and it’s treated as acceptable, that doesn’t mean it’s not crap behavior. I’ve handled much worse in situations where I don’t get to act like an idiot, it’s quite doable.
That is, if you expect to be taken seriously by people like me, he’s just a person, he doesn’t get magical ‘get out of jail free’ cards just because of his role. . . or rather he shouldn’t. People giving them to people like that just propogates the problem.
From the [leaked] transcript of the conference call, via Romensko:
ARMSTRONG: I also want to clear up the fact that leaking information or anything around Patch isn’t going to bother me, doesn’t bother me. I’m not changing direction. When you hear about what we’re doing at Patch it’s very serious and it’s very forward-thinking and anything that happens around Patch isn’t going to change that direction.
Third thing is if you don’t use Patch as a product and you’re not invested in Patch, you owe it to everybody else at Patch to leave. If you think what’s going on right now is a joke, and you want to joke around about it, you should pick your stuff up and leave Patch today, and the reason is, and I’m going to be very specific about this, is Patch from an experience — Abel, put that camera down right now! Abel, you’re fired. Out! [Momentary pause.]
Nothing has been edited out of this portion of the transcript. You can listen to the audio on Jim Romenesko’s site. The fired guy was an AOL creative director, so taking pictures to record company activities might have been part of his job. He might also not be really fired, since his Twitter account still lists him (as of August 11) as an AOL employee, and he has refused comment on the incident. Perhaps Armstrong thought better of his outburst later on and apologized, in the process both outing himself as a boss who humiliates in public and apologizes in private, and confirming that he’s not only a hothead but also an asshat.
Back to work (but no photos, please. The Log doesn’t have a “good side”):
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Nicely said! Far more concise than I was.
According to this, Armstrong has apologized in private and over an email to the company and press release.
And the guy fired was recording the meeting, and had been repeatedly told to not record the meeting.
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