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“People are in disbelief that they would be making this kid into a hero,” he told Fortune.

Attending a conference for CEOs in New York this week, just blocks away from the site of the shooting, George found that many were shaken and deeply concerned by the reaction to Thompson’s killing. “They’re having plenty of meetings right now to discuss beefing up security,” he said of the business leaders, even as some question how much security coverage is enough. People are asking themselves, “‘What does that say about our society? Where’s our society going?’” George said.

So they've learned absolutely nothing.

Plenty of meetings to beef up security. How about plenty of meetings to understand how your greed has caused this? They sound one logical leap (that they are unwilling to make) away from understanding exactly what the problem is.

They managed to find one and only one CEO quote that reflected anything resembling self-awareness.

“When I was growing up, CEOs didn’t make millions more than everyone else in the company. I think we have to reflect on why there’s so much anger and do something about it.”

This was a random killing by a mentally ill person. Let’s not turn a tragic incident into a trend. Most people don’t hate CEOs. They don’t care about CEOs. They have bigger issues to care about.

How fucking tone-deaf is this person? The bigger issues that we care about are things like going bankrupt from getting sick or injured. Those issues are directly caused by their CEOs. This wasn't a random killing, which is why people are so happy about it.

Here’s an idea, make human life more important than line go up. I’m pretty sure that would get alllllll of your asses off the firing line.

“Journalists look for heroes and villains; life is not that simple. Why is the killer getting 10 times as much press as the person who was killed?”

I agree with the last part of this quote, but probably not in the same way they wanted.

Why aren't we hearing more about the policies the CEO supported that caused so much pain and suffering?

Why did I have to learn about them having double the industry-standard claims denial rate through a meme and not through news articles everywhere?

Why am I not seeing more articles about how much money these people made by denying coverage? Why am I not seeing articles about their political contributions to keep healthcare privatized?

Most people don’t hate CEOs.

Uhhh, that actually might not be true.

If you were to do a poll in the US I think you can crack 51%, especially if you phrase it by mentioning that they have a fiduciary responsibility to maximize profit regardless of morality.

Edit: just had a thought. Given how much more money they make than the average worker, and that the average worker puts their health at risk by sitting at a desk so much, this might actually make sense in terms of risk/reward structure.

If the ultra wealthy make more than 1000 than me, shouldn’t they take 1000 times more risk of dying (I’m not supporting violence).

"Our industry is built around devaluing human life for profit. Why aren't these people valuing our lives?"

It's like a sketch comedy show. They can't be this dumb.

United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson was fatally shot on Dec. 4, 2024. The public response was generally not sympathetic.

— “My challenge is keeping employees engaged. How do you maintain a sense of purpose if you think your customers hate you?”

Your customers DO hate you. It's not just what you think, it's reality.

Maybe rather than trying to maintain a sense of purpose for what you're doing, you should take a step back and question WHAT you're doing, and whether it has any purpose in society at all other than making you money?

Well, corporate America is made up of hardworking Americans who do their best to reward the investors, and many times those investors are pension funds

Ah yes, every day I wake up to go to work just to do my best to reward the investors. Not because I need to pay for living expenses, just because I love pleasing the investors.

JFC these people are living in a fantasy world.

Just wanted to comment on these two.

“I have to wonder if the demonization of corporate America and the wealthy over the last four years planted a mind virus in the assassin’s mind.”

Fuck you! You have the mind virus. A virus which leads you to believe that the rest of us should suffer because you’re better. Eat shit anonymous CEO.

“If you walk by the place where it happened, it’s business as usual, which gives me some perspective. This was a random killing by a mentally ill person. Let’s not turn a tragic incident into a trend. Most people don’t hate CEOs. They don’t care about CEOs. They have bigger issues to care about.”

Then light some candles and put out some flowers you fucking cowardly parasite. Hold a vigil, gather your CEO buddies and sing Kumbaya. Be sure and post the date online so all of the healthcare CEOs know when to be there.

Why don’t you love your oligarchy overlords? All our surveys say you’re happy to have no choices other than the ones our questionnaire leads you to. You didn’t cancel your subscriptions after we jacked the prices up a half dozen times in the last five years and/or shoved ads at you, so you must be happy.

The disconnect between public perception and personal humanity has been striking, with some commentary bordering on dehumanizing.

Yeah it's a lot easier to humanize someone who makes six figures than someone who makes seven. Why don't you start there?

Or maybe just make it so the CEO doesn't make 700x more than the lowest paid worker. You don't even have to reduce the CEO pay to do it! Just lift up those other people.

Awww poor billionaires. So sad.

US income distribution is on the same level as fucking Russia. Bring back the tax brackets from the 1950's and 60's.

"...

We are quoting anonymously those who did respond, to allow them the freedom to give us their most candid answers. These have been edited for length and clarity. Some have previously been reported by Fortune.

**Personal responses to the killing **

— “The disconnect between public perception and personal humanity has been striking, with some commentary bordering on dehumanizing. This highlights the critical need to humanize leadership and address the pressures faced in high-visibility roles.”

— “My challenge is keeping employees engaged. How do you maintain a sense of purpose if you think your customers hate you?”

— “I have to wonder if the demonization of corporate America and the wealthy over the last four years planted a mind virus in the assassin’s mind.”

— “If you walk by the place where it happened, it’s business as usual, which gives me some perspective. This was a random killing by a mentally ill person. Let’s not turn a tragic incident into a trend. Most people don’t hate CEOs. They don’t care about CEOs. They have bigger issues to care about.”

..."

Wow. 'demonization', 'need to humanize leadership'... Are these human people that were interviewed? Did these human persons speak anyone outside their immediate circle in the last three decades? I can hardly believe that, this is so out of touch that these folk may have never been touched by anything in their lives. I wasn't prepared for this speedrun worldrecord to definitively prove total lack of empathy and understanding.

If you walk by the place where it happened, it’s business as usual, which gives me some perspective. This was a random killing by a mentally ill person. Let’s not turn a tragic incident into a trend. Most people don’t hate CEOs. They don’t care about CEOs. They have bigger issues to care about

I hope this guy gets it next. How fucking out of touch can you be that you dismiss this as "a mentally ill person doing mentally ill things"? What a fucking loser!

This was at the end of the article Forbes presented me with:

Do you have what it takes to make it to the C-suite? Learn how Fortune 500 CEOs overcame surprising obstacles on the road to the corner office...

I don't want to make it to the C-suite. That sounds awful. I want to help specific people solve problems they have helping other people.

Do other people think like this? Like they want a corner office and a big car? Am I that fucking abnormal that this sounds like a death sentence to me?

“When I was growing up, CEOs didn’t make millions more than everyone else in the company. I think we have to reflect on why there’s so much anger and do something about it.”, said someone who will do absolutely nothing about it.

its not a new reality dudes. you just did not know.

Its the same reality as before except they realize how close they are to the edge separating the game where they abuse us from the part where they don't get to play the game.

All of us play the game daily...go to work, do some good stuff, come home, eat, sleep. The good stuff. Why do we get so little and they get so much?

The biggest fear is that the hatred expressed in social media posts about Thompson—and glorification of 26-year-old shooting suspect Luigi Mangione—will lead to copycat attacks, says Bill George, a former Medtronic CEO and executive fellow at Harvard Business School. “People are in disbelief that they would be making this kid into a hero,” he told Fortune.

Fortune reached out to dozens of CEOs this week to get a sense of how they’re reacting to this moment. The majority declined to comment. We are quoting anonymously those who did respond, to allow them the freedom to give us their most candid answers. These have been edited for length and clarity. Some have previously been reported by Fortune.

— “The disconnect between public perception and personal humanity has been striking, with some commentary bordering on dehumanizing. This highlights the critical need to humanize leadership and address the pressures faced in high-visibility roles.”

— “When I was growing up, CEOs didn’t make millions more than everyone else in the company. I think we have to reflect on why there’s so much anger and do something about it.”

— “I think we’re living through very seriously dangerous times where we’re normalizing antisocial behavior and normalizing violence on both extremes—on the far right, and on the far left. We basically moved, over the last 10 to 12 years, to a world that I don’t recognize. It’s very scary … I do understand that there’s enormous amounts of injustice and that we need to bring everybody along, and there’s a lot of things that we do, but I don’t think revolution is the answer to solving problems.” (a former CEO)

I can't get inside the head of any of the crazies who go on a rampage and shoot up a school or a house of worship, but it gives me comfort to think that such people now know that if they shoot a CEO instead of a classroom full of children they will be regarded as having made a positive contribution to society. I really hope school shootings will go down after this, and I think they may well.