What do you do when your board member is unethical?

Question

After October 7th I was shocked and disappointed to find that my lead investor is on Twitter openly advocating a genocide of Palestinians, casting doubt on the number of Palestinian civilians killed and generally attacking and gaslighting everyone who's not enthusiastically looking to destroy Gaza and the West Bank.I'm horrified, I'm worried that they're going to cause massive damage to the brand of my company and I feel terrible that the company I built is now part of a message I find truly vile.As a founder what can I do? Most of the VC industry seems to be on the wrong side of this issue so it feels like speaking up will lead to a blacklisting (c.f. what happened to Paul Graham when he simply posted the number of dead civilians on both sides).

logicalmonster · Accepted Answer

IANAL or board member or anything of the sort, and I would refrain from arguing with his personal political opinions just because there's no winner in arguing politics with him, but it might be prudent to have a little discussion about avoiding politically charged topics when in a position to publicly represent the company.Tell your board members to do what other famous people do when they want to vent and shitpost on Twitter: create an anonymous burner account and have fun going buck wild with no trace back to you.

senojsitruc · Answer

I'd start by dropping the message that he's on the "wrong side of this issue." It's clear that many people believe that's very much up for debate. Right or wrong though, he'll certainly anger one group or the other with his vocal position. That's the real issue.If he took your position on the matter and was similarly vocal, would you have the same concern?

anonHash · Answer

Make your position clear on the issue. Openly and assertively state the position, especially if it knowingly conflicts with another person who the company is affiliated with. This way you have distanced yourself with the other person.
As far as blowback to your brand because you did not support the "right" side, it seems that we are ending up in a position where even a neutral side is taken up as being part of the other side.
All you can do is acknowledge the loss on "EACH" (read, not "both") side. And acknowledge the turmoil on each side. And acknowledge the human struggle (not war struggle) on each side. And acknowledge the polarization of 'both' sides.
And then stress to look forward to the end of the conflict.
Plus, also tell your board members after you have made this post clear, that posting messages opposite to the position of the company via profiles that lead back to the company will be taken as to be in conflict with the values of the company.

morkalork · Answer

I think the best thing to do would be close twitter.

Jiro · Answer

Did he say the exact words "I advocate a genocide of Palestinians"?If he did, post a quote. If he didn't, you shouldn't be treating him as if he did.And my bet is heavily on the "he didn't" side.

AbuelitaMia · Answer

Corporation is a mechanism to provide profits to the shareholders, while staying compliant with the appropriate rules and regulations.
The corporations is not a machine to optimize for personal views of the founders, unless there are no other shareholders, or unless all the other shareholders are in agreement (something that might be impossible to achieve when amount of shareholders crosses certain threshold).
In other words, if you are accepting outside shareholders into your company, you are no longer allowed to make any decisions for any other reason than profit, not unless other shareholders would consent to it. This is the law.
However, as a shareholder, you have the right to choose who you would like to have on the board, for any sort of arbitrary reasons.

saluki · Answer

50%+/- of your investors, co-workers and customers aren't going to agree with you on most issues. I understand it can be troubling to work with someone who has a different view but I try to let everyone have their opinion and just ignore the polarized political landscape when it comes to business.
Granted there are red lines where maybe you just don't want to be involved. But keep in mind every company, startup and set of investors is going to have people coming down on both sides of the many issues everyone is dealing with today.
I try to be positive and keep an open mind and not get involved in sharing my opinions on hot button topics in my business life. It's a tough world out there right now.

m_a_g · Answer

This might have legal implications, so talking with a lawyer is a great starting point.

mortallywounded · Answer

A political opinion you don't agree with is far from "unethical". It may be unprofessional though.If I had a dollar for every coworker or business partner I ever had a disagreement with...

matthewfelgate · Answer

He's investing his money.You don't have to agree with his politics.

baggy_trough · Answer

Can you give a specific example of what your investor has stated that constitutes "openly advocating a genocide of Palestinians"?

What do you do when your board member is unethical?

I think the best thing to do would be close twitter.

Did he say the exact words "I advocate a genocide of Palestinians"?
If he did, post a quote. If he didn't, you shouldn't be treating him as if he did.
And my bet is heavily on the "he didn't" side.

This might have legal implications, so talking with a lawyer is a great starting point.

A political opinion you don't agree with is far from "unethical". It may be unprofessional though.
If I had a dollar for every coworker or business partner I ever had a disagreement with...

He's investing his money.
You don't have to agree with his politics.

Can you give a specific example of what your investor has stated that constitutes "openly advocating a genocide of Palestinians"?