There are some bosses who simply make bad calls, and then there are those who terrify their workers or even abuse their staff.
John Rigas
John Rigas is the founder of Adelphia Communications. The line between company money and family money became very blurry under his leadership. Yes, Adelphia reportedly paid $180,000 toward one Rigas home and another $90,000 for renovations before his daughter’s wedding.
The company also spent over $500,000 on antiques that remained on family property. It wasn’t exactly a business expense. Rigas also hid billions in family borrowing from investors. He was eventually convicted of conspiracy and bank fraud, along with securities fraud.
Albert J. Dunlap
‘Chainsaw Al’ was the nickname of Sunbeam’s chairman and CEO, Albert J. Dunlap. That tells you all you need to know about his leadership style. He was someone who seemed happy to put employees on the chopping block, and he cut around 12,000 jobs while in charge.
He also closed or sold 114 locations in less than two years. Dunlap often presented himself as the hard man brought in to fix struggling companies, although the fixes didn’t last very long. The SEC actually accused him of inflating the company’s finances through improper accounting. He received a lifetime ban from leading another public company. It was that serious.
Roger Ailes
Power at Fox News was pretty much centered around Roger Ailes for nearly two decades. He controlled who appeared on screen and who got promoted. But then it all came crashing down when former host Gretchen Carlson sued him in 2016, saying he harassed her.
She alleged that he damaged her career after she rejected him. 20 other women reportedly made similar allegations during the following investigation, including Megyn Kelly. Ailes denied he’d ever done anything wrong, although he did resign. He’s definitely not someone you want in charge.
Les Moonves
It was a similar story with CBS and the then-chairman and CEO, Les Moonves. He was accused by multiple women of misconduct. He denied it all. New York investigators, however, found that it was just the tip of the iceberg, and there was a lot of corruption going on, too.
A Los Angeles police captain secretly gave a CBS executive information about a confidential complaint against him. That’s not all. Company leaders also kept allegations from investors while Moonves sold millions of dollars in stock. It was a mess all around.
Adam Neumann
You might think that WeWork would be a nice place to work. It sold the idea of friendly shared offices, after all, but Adam Neumann’s own workplace behavior was a different experience. It started with his former chief of staff, Medina Bardhi, and her complaints.
She claimed that a less-qualified man replaced her while she was on maternity leave, and he was paid three times as much. WeWork denied discrimination. Still, Neumann stepped down in 2019 as questions about his control of the company grew, along with his apparent open drug use.
Leona Helmsley
Working for hotel owner Leona Helmsley was challenging. But not for the reason you might expect. She allegedly discriminated against her staff, including Charles Bell, a former manager at the Park Lane Hotel. He said Helmsley fired him because he was gay.Â
Helmsley was often called by the nickname ‘Queen of Mean,’ and she became infamous for firing hotel workers on the spot. A tiny mistake, like a crooked lampshade, was apparently enough to get her angry. It certainly wasn’t a hospitable environment around her.
Scott Rudin
The problem with producer Scott Rudin’s approach to work was physical. His former employees claim that he’d throw all sorts of things when he was angry, including staplers and teacups. He supposedly threw a baked potato, too. Yes, really.
One assistant claimed Rudin smashed a computer monitor onto another worker’s hand, causing injuries that required emergency treatment. But his staff couldn’t speak up at the time. He was one of Broadway and Hollywood’s most powerful producers, so they had a lot to lose by telling the truth about his behavior.
Dov Charney
Dov Charney built American Apparel around a very public image. His behavior inside the company eventually became just as public. The clothing chain’s board removed him, and that’s when the claims of him using ethnic slurs toward employees came out.
He’d also apparently kept videos of physical encounters with models and workers on a company server. Yikes. He wasn’t exactly good with finances, either, as the board claimed he’d misused company money and corporate assets. No wonder he was fired.
Elizabeth Holmes
Most people know the story of Elizabeth Holmes’s blood-testing company, Theranos, and how it was all a lie. But you probably don’t realize how bad it was behind the scenes. Holmes ran the company under strict secrecy and tried to stop teams from comparing what they knew.
Whenever someone raised concerns about inaccurate test results, Holmes would apparently respond with lawyers and private investigators. She also made legal threats against them. Holmes was later convicted of defrauding investors and sentenced to over 11 years in prison.
Ellen DeGeneres
Everything seemed fine and cheerful on The Ellen DeGeneres Show. It certainly wasn’t backstage, according to many employees. They claimed DeGeneres intimidated staff and made racist remarks towards them. Senior staff got involved, too, and allegedly committed physical misconduct.
DeGeneres said she didn’t know about everything taking place, although she did also apologize and accept responsibility as an executive producer. It didn’t erase how hurt her employees were, though.
Bobby Kotick
Bobby Kotick spent years running Activision Blizzard, and complaints about the company’s culture kept piling up. It got to the point where employees started walking out, and over 1,000 of them signed a petition asking for him to go.Â
They accused him of allowing harassment and discrimination in the workplace. It’s not exactly how you want a boss to be running things. Kotick allegedly knew about serious allegations and chose not to inform the board. He denied it all.
Philip Green
Most people who are avoiding their bosses are trying to just stay out of a meeting, but at Arcadia Group, employees had real reasons. They were afraid of chairman Philip Green. There were reports that he would yell and bully staff, while also making unwanted comments.
Several claims made against Green ended in private settlements with nondisclosure agreements. Green denied he’d done anything wrong, of course, and he also tried to stop a newspaper from naming him in the complaints. He later dropped the case.
John Schnatter
You might be wondering why John Schnatter’s face isn’t all over Papa John’s boxes or signs anymore. It’s all because of what allegedly happened behind the scenes. Employees claim he closely monitored staff and encouraged a culture of secrecy.
He was also allegedly physically inappropriate, just to make things worse. Schnatter left his CEO role in 2017 and resigned as chairman in 2018. This was after he’d used a racial slur during a media-training call, and it didn’t take long for the company to start removing his image.Â
Sources: Please see here for a complete listing of all sources that were consulted in the preparation of this article.
