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🇮🇪 Ireland /Environment & Climate

Outspoken chief executives are not extinct, but they do seem more endangered

From Irish Times · () English

Translated from English and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

Opinion Named sources Context piece
  • Fuse Energy chief executive Alan Chang drew attention after saying he did not read books, believe in charities or consider most energy industry employees people he would hire.
  • The article contrasts Chang’s comments with the blunt public language of executives including Michael O’Leary, Jamie Dimon and Alex Karp.
  • It argues that outspoken executives have become rarer as public relations pressures grow and technology leaders increasingly rely on grandiose corporate language.

I cannot remember the last time a Sunday newspaper interview made me gasp. Then Alan Chang said he did not read books, watch films or really believe in charities.

Chang, the 30-something boss of Fuse Energy, a British technology-focused power supplier valued at $5 billion (€4.3 billion), said charitable giving was “an extremely inefficient way to deploy capital.” The sharper shock came when he explained why he founded the company in 2022, after deciding that Britain’s energy industry was filled with mediocre people.

I don’t read books.

· Alan ChangThe Fuse Energy chief executive made the remark when asked about his personal interests.

Chang said his team searched LinkedIn, examined where industry employees had studied and reviewed their records. “I’d say the majority of those people I personally wouldn’t hire,” he said. The article’s writer has never met Chang and cannot tell whether the remark was calculated for effect or sincerely held. Either way, the surprise lies partly in how unusual such bluntness now seems.

I don’t believe in charities, really. I think it’s an extremely inefficient way to deploy capital.

· Alan ChangChang explained his view of philanthropy in the interview that prompted the article.

Outspoken chief executives still exist, but they look increasingly like exceptions. Ryanair’s Michael O’Leary remains a particularly loud example. He has attacked rivals and, more recently, called Rachel Reeves a “moron” and Ursula von der Leyen an “idiot” while criticizing European regulation.

In finance, JPMorgan Chase’s Jamie Dimon has described subjects ranging from U.S. politics to some of his own bank’s diversity programs as “stupid shit.” In technology, Palantir’s Alex Karp has joked about spraying analysts with fentanyl-laced urine and accepted that some people consider him an “arrogant prick.”

I’d say the majority of those people I personally wouldn’t hire.

· Alan ChangHe described how he assessed employees in Britain’s energy industry before founding Fuse Energy.

The article says public-relations machinery and politicians who can make life difficult for companies help explain why the list is short. Chang’s remarks also landed heavily because the technology sector has spent recent years producing increasingly elaborate leadership rhetoric. The article points to essays from AI executives and investors, including Marc Andreessen’s 5,200-word Techno-Optimist Manifesto, which declared, “Artificial Intelligence is our alchemy, our Philosopher’s Stone.” Against that backdrop, crude directness can sound almost startlingly fresh.

Artificial Intelligence is our alchemy, our Philosopher’s Stone.

· Marc AndreessenThe quote comes from Andreessen’s 2023 Techno-Optimist Manifesto and illustrates the grandiose language criticized by the article.
About this summary

Originally published by Irish Times in English. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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