Co-founder and CEO of Groupon Andrew Mason was fired today, and he admitted it. This type of honesty almost never happens in a publicly traded company. Most of the time, leaders resign "to spend more time with their family," or at least that's the public reason most commonly given.
By contrast, Crain's Chicago Business reported that Mason sent a very open letter to all Groupon employees. (To the credit of Groupon's board members, they let him send it.) It began:
"After four and a half intense and wonderful years as CEO of Groupon, I've decided that I'd like to spend more time with my family. Just kidding—I was fired today. If you're wondering why ... you haven't been paying attention. From controversial metrics in our S1 to our material weakness to two quarters of missing our own expectations and a stock price that's hovering around one quarter of our listing price, the events of the last year and a half speak for themselves. As CEO, I am accountable. "
Mason never shied away from taking responsibility during good and bad times at Groupon. He never tried to blame the company failures on someone else. Many critics publicly said that Mason was too young to run Groupon. This may be the case, but at 32 years old, he has shown the characteristics of a true business leader by being accountable for the successes and failures of his company. More small-business owners need to do this. Do you?
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