The tumultuous story of Sam Altman’s ouster from OpenAI and his triumphant return in five days could reach business curricula, offering valuable lessons about leadership, loyalty and evaluations.
The OpenAI whirlwind began on Friday with the sudden firing of co-founder and chief executive officer (CEO) Altman, who enjoys cult status in the tech world. President Greg Brockman is resigning as well, prompting hundreds of employees to threaten to quit, and sparking a protest to bring Altman back. After briefly joining Microsoft, and a lot of public back-and-forth on social media, Altman was back at OpenAI on Wednesday.
“The conclusion of this boardroom battle will be interesting. One can learn how two stakeholders — OpenAI and Microsoft — had their differences played out; how corporations and leaders create an image and position themselves in social media; and how boardroom views are managed and perceptions created that demonstrate employee loyalty,” said Nishant Uppal, professor of organizational behavior and human resource management at the Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Lucknow.
The firing was led by OpenAI chief scientist Ilya Sutskever, who later expressed his regret at X, formerly Twitter. Meanwhile, the company board, which had vetted two interim CEOs during the chaos, contacted Altman.
“The OpenAI case offers rich insights for business schools, highlighting the critical aspect of balancing innovation with stability in boardroom dynamics. It underscores the importance of teaching future business leaders the art of navigating such a delicate balance,” said Himanshu Rai, director of IIM-Indore. Rai said that B-schools should “prioritize curricula that delve into adaptive strategies, focusing on transparent communication and the significance of aligning leadership goals – a reflection of the negotiations witnessed in the context of OpenAI with Sam Altman.”
The story changed when Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft, the largest investor in OpenAI, offered Altman and Brockman jobs at Microsoft to open a new AI lab. Finally, on Wednesday, a new board was created at OpenAI, along with the return of Altman and Brockman, bringing the curtains down on the drama.
While reports of the behind-the-scenes developments at OpenAI are still flowing in, Ganesh N. Prabhu, a professor of strategy at IIM Bangalore, noted that there is a need to study the ways in which non-profit organizations like OpenAI are governed differently than. for-profit companies.
“Right now, we only have 20% of the information, and after closing, we need to know why Altman was asked to go,” Prabhu said. According to him, investments such as Microsoft without a board position and comments on social media. of top executives of non-profits without needing the usual regulatory processes are also worth studying.
At IIM Calcutta, students can be taught about the conflict between board, management leaders and employees using this case.
“What happens when the personal equity and contribution of the leaders in building a company is greater than the equity of the rest of the board can be taught to the students,” said Prashant Mishra, professor of marketing at IIM Calcutta.
(tagsTo Translate)Sam Altman