Episode 187: Undercover Boss, Uber-Driving CEOs, and the "Empathetic Executive" Schtick

Episode 187: Undercover Boss, Uber-Driving CEOs, and the "Empathetic Executive" Schtick

"New Starbucks CEO plans to pull barista shifts in stores every month," CNN announces. "Uber's CEO moonlighted as a driver and it changed the way he operates the company," Fortune insists. "Your DoorDash driver? He's the company's co-founder," the Associated Press smirks.

Month after month or week after week, we seem to hear the same stories about bold corporate executives who've decided to roll up their sleeves—metaphorically or otherwise—and join their lowest-level employees as a delivery driver, barista, or retail worker. Their stated goal: to "stay connected" to and "better understand" the company, its customers, and its workers.

While these attempts to foster and express empathy may appear noble on the surface, they're anything but. In reality, the CEO-as-worker stunt is an entirely self-serving project, creating a pretext for worker surveillance and a distraction from labor abuses like poverty wages and union-busting, all the while seeking to convince the public that corporate executives are honest, hardworking folks, Just Like You.

Today, we will be dissecting the past and present of Undercover Boss-style corporate maneuvers, looking at the ways in which the C-suiter-in-the-trenches routine advances the squishy concept of "empathy" in order to obscure and undermine the material needs and demands of labor.

Our guest is Ligia Guallpa, Executive Director of the Worker's Justice Project, a community-based, workers' rights organization in New York City.

Avsnitt(371)

News Brief: US Media, Top Dems Assist Trump and Israel's Unprovoked Attack on Iran

News Brief: US Media, Top Dems Assist Trump and Israel's Unprovoked Attack on Iran

In this public News Brief, we detail how the NYT, Washington Post, and CNN reinforce every faulty premise of Israel's attack and how top Democrats in Congress and former Harris aides either ignore Tru...

13 Juni 202530min

Ep. 223: The Empire Strikes First, Part II — 'Abundance' Pablum as Counter to Left Populism

Ep. 223: The Empire Strikes First, Part II — 'Abundance' Pablum as Counter to Left Populism

"Can Democrats Learn to Dream Big Again?," wonders Samuel Moyn in the New York Times. "The Democrats Are Finally Landing on a New Buzzword. It's Actually Compelling," argues Slate staff writer Henry G...

11 Juni 20251h 25min

Ep 222 - The Empire Strikes First Part I: Party Elites Who Lost to Trump (Twice) Blame Everyone But Themselves

Ep 222 - The Empire Strikes First Part I: Party Elites Who Lost to Trump (Twice) Blame Everyone But Themselves

In Ep. 222, "The Empire Strikes First Part I: Party Elites Who Lost to Trump (Twice) Blame Everyone But Themselves," we detail how our media allows the same party flacks who got the Dems into this mes...

4 Juni 20251h 21min

Episode 221: Anti-Science Mugging on the Right and the Ascent of American Anti-Intellectualism

Episode 221: Anti-Science Mugging on the Right and the Ascent of American Anti-Intellectualism

In this episode we detail demagogues' favorite faux populist schtick of taking scientific studies out of context and mocking them, often with help from mainstream media. with guest Brenda Ekwurzel, di...

28 Maj 20251h 8min

News Brief: NPR Asks Starving Palestinian Living On Rubble to Denounce Hamas, Co-Sign His Own Ethnic Cleansing

News Brief: NPR Asks Starving Palestinian Living On Rubble to Denounce Hamas, Co-Sign His Own Ethnic Cleansing

In this News Brief, we we break down an object lesson in racist US-Israeli national security state toadyism, double standards, and runaway condescension.

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News Brief: Baltimore Uprising 10 Years on: PR Co-option vs Genuine Reform

News Brief: Baltimore Uprising 10 Years on: PR Co-option vs Genuine Reform

In this News Brief we are joined by Taya Graham and Stephen Janis of The Real News Network to discuss their new documentary, "Freddie Gray: A Decade of Struggle" about the lessons, pitfalls and genuin...

7 Maj 202536min

Episode 220: The Power of Thought-Terminating Bad Guy Labels

Episode 220: The Power of Thought-Terminating Bad Guy Labels

"American Extremists Aiding Radicals Across Border," trumpeted the Detroit Free Press in 1919. "707 Illegal Aliens Arrested in Checkpoint Crackdown," reported the Los Angeles Times in 1987. "87 Bronx ...

30 Apr 20251h 21min

Ep 219: How Elites Concern Troll 'Waste' to Gut Social Welfare and Divide the Working Class

Ep 219: How Elites Concern Troll 'Waste' to Gut Social Welfare and Divide the Working Class

"Poverty plan hit for fraud, waste," reported the Associated Press in 1966. "Study says government waste is unbelievable," insisted United Press International in 1983. "Beneath Trump's Chaotic Spendin...

23 Apr 20251h 15min

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