Also: An even shorter work week, Zuck touts Threads, VW taps Xpeng. 
Good morning.
Social media is one of the technologies that has profoundly changed the life of the CEO. Twenty years ago, most found it fairly easy to lay low and avoid controversy. Today, controversy seeks them out. They live in a social media fishbowl.
MillerKnoll CEO Andi Owen is a recent victim. At a virtual town hall in April, she responded to a question about employee bonuses using the following line:
“I had an old boss who said to me one time, ‘You can visit Pity City, but you can’t live there.’ So people, leave Pity City. Let’s get it done.”
She meant to rally the troops but instead lit up the internet. A video clip of the moment went viral, was viewed more than 20 million times, and drew countless comments, mostly negative. It was every CEO’s social media nightmare.
What did she learn from the experience?
“I was very naïve going into this. My words were meant to rally and motivate. But they landed in a very different way. And the speed with which social media enabled a few negative people to amplify and take things out of context was very fast.”
The experience also convinced Owen of the need to bring people back together in person.
“When this all started, I was a big believer in how much we can do on a screen. But there is a danger in that. You really need the human-to-human connection. This highlighted for me what I missed, what I need, what I can’t sacrifice. It’s hard to be human through a screen.”
Owen said many other CEOs reached out to her to commiserate after the story went viral. “It’s a very interesting and vulnerable conversation CEOs are having,” she says. Her advice to others: “We have to be courageous, we have to be confident, we have to be empathetic.”
More news below. And check out Phil Wahba’s story for Fortune on the new CEO of Gap, Richard Dickson, who helped revive the Barbie franchise as COO of Mattel. The last Gap CEO lasted only two years, and the company has gone without a permanent replacement for more than a year. Says Wahba: Dickson “has a big job ahead of him.”
More news below.
Alan Murray
@alansmurray
alan.murray@fortune.com
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An even shorter work week
A study of dozens of employers adopting four-day work weeks across the U.S., Canada, the U.K., and Ireland found that the longer employees worked compressed weeks, the more efficient they became. After six months, workers cut their average work time by four hours to 34 hours per week. Twelve months on, they’d shaved off another hour while reporting improved mental and physical health and work-life balance. Wall Street Journal
Meta’s efficiency pays off
As Meta reported second quarter revenue of $32 billion that beat expectations, CEO Mark Zuckerberg touted the company’s Threads platform as proof that his “Year of Efficiency” was paying off. Meta’s “leaner organization” and “cultural changes” have enabled it to “build higher quality products faster, and [Threads] is probably the biggest so far.” Threads garnered 100 million users in its first five days. Now the company must retain users amid reports of nosediving activity. Fortune
VW plays catch-up
Volkswagen is investing roughly $700 million in Xpeng in return for a 4.99% stake in the Chinese EV startup. Together, the brands will produce two vehicles targeting middle-class consumers; they’ll carry the VW logo but feature Xpeng software. The deal gives VW a boost in China’s “new energy vehicle” market, where it trails local rivals and Tesla. Reuters
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Creating a more sustainable, inclusive, and vibrant San Francisco Revitalizing downtown San Francisco – helping to make it a sustainable place to live and work – is a goal of the Yes SF, Urban Sustainability Challenge, an UpLink challenge launched by Deloitte, Salesforce and World Economic Forum. Entrepreneurs can submit ideas for innovative solutions to renew the city’s urban spaces by August 11 for the chance to receive funding and support. Submit ideas
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