Former eBay CEO John Donahoe, who now heads Nike, took flak over his comments about “disruptive innovation” last week, a term that may trigger online sellers who were on eBay in the mid-2000s.
Donahoe blamed remote work for Nike’s innovation challenges, telling CNBC in an interview published on Friday, “In hindsight, it turns out, it’s really hard to do bold, disruptive innovation, to develop a boldly disruptive shoe on Zoom.”
Brian Elliott, former CEO of Alibris and Monsoon Commerce in the 2000s, was among those who took issue with the Nike CEO’s comments. Wendy Hamilton, CEO of TechSmith, was far more blunt in her reaction to Donahoe’s remarks:
“You know what does hurt innovation?” Hamilton wrote. “Treating employees like cogs. Extreme cost-cutting. Not understanding your customer. The CEO started laying off in 2020 continuing painfully into 2021, and remains in cost-cutting mode with an announcement four months ago of $2B in planned cuts over the next three years.”
Cost-cutting may be part of Donahoe’s DNA, having been a Bain management consultant for much of his career (eBay sellers sometimes referred to him as “one of the Bobs,” a reference to the movie Office Space).
Even more searing over the weekend were comments from financial services executive Josh Oliveira, who professes to be obsessed with the future of work, who said, “Nike CEO John Donahoe is trying to save his reputation, because it’s looking like the company is turning into Kodak/Blockbuster under his leadership.”
Many smaller online sellers work from home so don’t have skin in the game when it comes to the issue of remote work. But Donahoe’s remarks last week may have resonated with those who lived through his era as CEO of eBay when he unleashed disruptive innovation, a painful process for many sellers. Eventually he left eBay in 2015 after he capitulated to activist investor Carl Icahn and broke up eBay and PayPal.
A day after Donahoe’s remarks to CNBC on Friday, Nike founder Phil Knight came out in support of John Donahoe, according to the Oregon – but the publication also reported that Nike is expected to soon have a second round of layoffs this year.
CNBC posted a clip of the interview on YouTube where John Donahoe dropped the term “disruptive innovation,” but you must be a CNBC Pro subscriber to see the full interview:
How that recycled empty suit (my opinion) is the CEO of Nike I will never know He ruined eBay. (again, my opinion).
Disruptive innovation. Another way of saying “we are really going to fug it up”. And he did.
guy is still a ass
The fact that anyone would hire Donahue after his eBay debacle is amazing, especially since his “disruptive” policies were catastrophic to eBay. However, having him go to a company that supported anti-American beliefs (remember the knee to the national anthem), no one said much. They were hoping he’d help destroy that company as well. How these losers manage to stay afloat and earn outrageous paychecks for imbecility is what is truly unbelievable!
Pink Exchange says “supported anti-American beliefs (remember the knee to the national anthem)”
Do you even know why Kaepernick kneeled? Nike is about as American as they come.
There is nothing in the Constitution or any laws requiring Americans to stand for the national anthem. Only the armed services require their service members and veterans to do so. That does not apply to non-veteran civilians. Do I kneel? No, but I respect why he took a knee.
I do agree with your statement “The fact that anyone would hire Donahue after his eBay debacle is amazing”. And what RL15 said.
I heard this interview and was not impressed.
Kaepernick kneeled because he was supporting THOSE WHO WERE treated like a slave.
Lots of ugly news at that time concerning cops and minorities.
Ms. Shanna, you might want to walk a mile in his shoes before you pass judgement. My guess is that this has nothing to do with money. For some reason people think that people who have millions haven’t experienced pain.
How did an ecommerce article about some overpaid scammer CEO get twisted into arguments about some overpaid scammer jock? You people need to stay on topic.