Did This $584M Net Worth Leader Really Say That In Public??

Now, I know that there are many Leaders who are completely disconnected from the reality that most people face.

However, this recent story completely blew me away with the levels of arrogance and horror displayed by how disconnected this CEO is.

Tim Gurner, CEO of the luxury building company Gurner Group, with a Net Worth of $584 Million, was apparently speaking at a summit where he had some... interesting opinions.

Let's go through some of the highlights of what he said.

"I think the problem that we've had is people decided they didn't actually want to work that much through COVID, and that has had a massive issue through productivity... They have been paid a lot to do not much in the last few years and we need to see that change." - Tim Gurner

If we look at the statistics, productivity has only risen during the Pandemic as a whole.

Despite what CEOs claim, there seems to be no evidence anywhere about it decreasing except in their "feelings".

Along with this, according to science, there are very few people who don't want to work, less than a fraction of a fraction of a fraction of one percent.

Why?

Work is the #1 place that people feel Flow States, which is the Psychophysiological state where we feel our best.

People will literally go out of their way to feel Flow States, literally risking life and limb to obtain it.

Because people desire it so deeply, and the #1 place it occurs is in our work, people actually really DO want to work, and will work really hard if they are getting into Flow States consistently!

Not to mention that work often gives us purpose and allows us to feel autonomous which is critical to self-worth and wellbeing.

In the extremely few cases where people truly "don't want to do work" at an organization, 99.99% of the time their reasoning is their Leader(s).

Their Leader(s) have made such a toxic workplace and environment, that they literally only want to do the minimum amount of work necessary to keep their jobs.

It isn't because they "don't want to do work" as is being claimed, it's because they are terrified of their Leader(s).

Fear creates stress, and it destroys productivity greatly.

So, based on real-world data and science, this statement is almost completely based on NOTHING true.

"IF" there actually was a decrease for Gurner Group in productivity that could actually be "proven" due to working from home (which I have yet to see ANY CEO provide proof), then I can almost GUARANTEE that the problems lie SOLELY with Leadership.

The Leaders would then be so Toxic that even working from home is not saving employees from how awful the work truly is.

Given the other statements that Tim Gurner gave, publicly no less, I have NO doubts in my mind that the Leadership at his organization is the problem.

"We need to see pain in the economy. We need to remind people that they work for the employer, not the other way around..."

Well...

I have never seen a bad economy be "beneficial" to the majority.

Now, it is true that a bad economy can "become" an opportunity if you go through it correctly, but it doesn't make it something we should look at "positively".

Usually, those opportunities only arise for individuals because they are in so much pain that they are willing to do almost anything to get out of that pain.

Those individuals are also in the extremely small minority (unfortunately).

Along with this, the second statement is quite interesting.

Who does he think does the WORK that has allowed him to earn his $584 Million Net Worth?

I'm not saying that he is or isn't great at business, I have never seen him work so I couldn't say.

What I do know is that he would have SIGNIFICANTLY less if a large portion of his employees all quit on him simultaneously.

Do businesses provide jobs and is it important to recognize that?

Yes, it is important.

However, perhaps more important for the CEO to recognize is that without the grunt work done by their employees, they would have nothing.

"... there's been a systematic change where employees feel the employer is extremely lucky to have them as opposed to the other way around."

I wonder why that is...

Who is luckier?

The employee who has to face terrible Leadership daily and do all the worst work in the organization?

Or the CEO who enjoys the luxuries of life due to the efforts of the many people in their organizations as they struggle with a terrible economy?

Does he not understand that there are people who literally see a loaf of white bread as a luxury?

The reality is, he doesn't understand this.

If people really understand how bad some people have life, including here in the States where I live, they would actually think about how fortunate they are that they have so much DUE TO the hard work of others.

CEOs are not gods that should be worshiped.

They need to understand that they ARE lucky to have the employees they do.

There should be a fair trade of labor of course, and "in theory" Leaders should accept the higher struggles.

Plus, employees should be thankful for their jobs "IF" they also have good Leaders who actually attend to their needs.

However, the reality is that employees struggle significantly more than their overlords and get significantly less than they should.

CEOs should consider themselves lucky that the MILLIONS they enjoy come from the hard labor of the employees in their organizations.

More employees are realizing this, and they are taking a stand for themselves, as they should.

"We need to see unemployment rise. Unemployment has to jump 40 to 50%..."

For the country he is in, Tim Gurner is saying that there "needs" to be about 270,000 people to lose their jobs.

Unemployment is associated with adverse health and higher rates of suicide.

Levels of homelessness are already at levels that are too high for governments to handle.

This would only increase given an economic downturn, as Gurner suggests is "needed".

How many people die on the streets daily?

How many people are sold into slavery, even here in the US, daily?

How many of them face sickness and horrible conditions they can't get aid in recovering from?

Far too many.

Adding more people to it is not a good thing.

Not to mention that these conditions would negatively impact business and employees terribly.

The reality is that higher stress and lower happiness (both of which would occur) decimate productivity.

How is that a win for ANY business?

It's not, but it demonstrates how disconnected some people are from the Reality that most people face.

What are the consequences of this?

The Consequences

Well, surprisingly, Tim Gurner did "apologize" for his statements.

But the damage is done.

People are not fooled by a nice "PR" statement, we see the true feelings and that won't be undone by honeyed lies.

This has led to more anger, stress, and hatred directed at him as a Leader - so much so that his PR or HR team apparently pushed him to give a public statement.

This will only fuel what appears to already be a HIGHLY Toxic workplace.

Productivity will get worse from here, and these statements may actually push many employees to become Actively Disengaged in the organization.

That means not only will their productivity "decrease", but they will also actively work against the organization (in secret), so you could say that it becomes "negative" productivity.

Along with this, it leads people to not see this leader as an Exemplar.

If you follow my work, you will understand that it is NECESSARY to become an Exemplar in an organization if you ever hope to reach the highest levels of productivity - Group Flow States.

These become literally impossible to achieve though if people don't see you as a good Leader, don't see you as an Exemplar.

Some individuals of course will get into Flow States, but the energy will be directed in different ways that are not toward what the organization wants or needs.

Plus, those who are most prone to getting into Flow States will not tolerate bad Leadership for long, creating a cycle of revolving door Lower Leadership, which also negatively impacts businesses.

No matter how you look at this, it's a horrible situation that this level has disconnection has created.