Former Thinx CEO responds to allegations of Stalin-like behavior

Former Thinx CEO responds to allegations of Stalin-like behaviorFormer Thinx CEO responds to allegations of Stalin-like behaviorOn Friday, Miki Agrawal, ex-Thinx CEO, now-self-proclaimed SHE-E-O of Thinx,responded to Rackedsexpos of zu sich alleged mismanagement and coercion of her employees.Among the many highlights of the Racked piece Agrawal was accused of being inappropriatein professional settings (staff complaints were called a coup) beinga hostile salary negotiator to her younger employees (Oh youre in your twenties, you dont need a lot of money) and coercing some of them to write fake Glassdoor reviews to offset other, bad reviews calling her Trump-like and filled with Stalin-like paranoia.Like many Silicon Valley thought leaders, Agrawalchose Medium as the space to write her explanation. Agrawal has used the platform before to share advice and debunk criticism. Her previous heart-to-hearts on Medium includeMy Lessons from Burning Man 2016 and An Open Letter to Respectfully Q uit Telling Me How to Do Feminism (and to just support one another,please)Unlike some CEOs mea culpas, though, Agrawal shows little evidence of an intent to change. She kicks off herfirst paragraphwith a disclaimer of being a human being, not a Thinx representative, and compared her ongoing plight to the culminating scene of Braveheart.Earlier this week, Ladders wrote about how Agrawalsmismanagement offered valuable lessons on how not to treat onesemployees. Agrawals explanation offers more lessons on what not to do.Yes, I have made a TON of mistakesIn her Medium post, Agrawal admits she made mistakes while running her company, but on her personal Instagram, she still refuted the allegations in the Racked report, calling them a classic media take down and baseless. Instead, Agrawal said she was compelled to respond to clear her good family anthroponym and simply share the truth of what actually happened.Human resources as an afterthoughtIn the Racked report, one employee said the co mpanys $200 monthly healthcare premiums were so prohibitive that she couldnt even afford birth control. Maternity leave was alsowell belowthe industry standard of 20 weekswith two weeks of full pay and a week at half-pay.For a period underwear company founded to help women, employees were especially bothered by the companyshypocrisy of not being able to help its own women.Agrawal defended Thinxspoor maternity leave policy with the rather flimsy rationale that no one was yet pregnant on the staff at the time we didnt have any pregnant women on the team unlike now where we have 3, including me-)The protections of your employees should be built into the foundation of ones company, not tacked on as an afterthought.Explaining why employeeshad no human resources to absprache with issues like health care, Agrawal said it was not a priority in the beginning as she was working to brand herself and the company I didnt put HR practices in place because I was on the road speaking, doing press, brand partnerships, editing all of the creative and shouting from the rooftops about THINX so we can keep going.As Motherboard reported in 2016, when Silicon Valley startups leave out human resources, its women who disproportionally feel its lack companies, led by enterprising 20- and 30-somethings, reject the cubicled infrastructure of the offices of their parents generations in favor of an ostensibly open, streamlined approach. In turn, the securities those older employers maintained- eight-hour days, parental protections, and incremental pay raises, for example- often disintegrate.Low salaries? startuplifeAgrawal used startuplife as her justification for why employees were being paid belowmarket rate. She also mentioned that staff got bonuses to make up for their lower pay.And yet, no amount of irreverent hashtags can justify underpaying your employees when your startup is raking in millions of dollars in revenue.Things are changing at Thinx. Agrawal said Thinx has hired anHR man ager who will be putting much more rigid HR practices in place. But although Agrawal said she is using the whole experience as an opportunity to learn and grow, she is not taking much responsibility for her actions, continuously reframing employee dissatisfaction as HR issues that all of a sudden and kept happening.Some useful lessons for potential leadersShow true humility to keep perspective Agrawal started her post comparing herself to Braveheart and ended it by comparing herself to Theodore Roosevelt. Agrawal uses Roosevelts quote if (s)he fails, at least s/he fails while daring greatly, so that her place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat. This is heady company to keep. While maintaining inspiring role models is necessary, dont share the pedestal with your idols until youve achieved what theyve achieved in this case, either the liberation of Scotland, or the creation of U.S. national parks.Pay attention to what employees tell youU nder Agrawals logic, staff complaints were technical bugs, and not a built-in feature of poor leadership. That kind of view can only decrease dissatisfaction. Learn to shut up, and your company may actually improve.Take responsibility Dodging accountability is a losing game. Rather than quoting Roosevelt, Agrawal could have considered different kindof presidential advice. As President Truman recognized, when youre a leader, every problem your staff has is your responsibility the buck stops here.Know when to step aside Founders frequently have to know when to fire themselves, and let someone with operational experience take over.Agrawal said she has been replaced by an unnamed professional CEO, so she can go back to doing what she is better at the promotion of shouting from the rooftops about why period underwear is the bees knees.Good luck to whoever that new CEOwill be. The consequences toThinxs mismanagement are piling up. CNN reported that Thinxcancelled its South by Southwest li neup for Fridayand after the Racked report came out, model Tyler Fordcameforward with their story of Thinx managements humiliating transphobic mistreatment.