For those of you who have ever been in a position of corporate authority with the lives of workers at your fingertips, there are plenty of lessons to be learned in how to properly manage the human element.
I doubt sincerely if using social media to post a selfie of yourself smiling while announcing your "revelations" in how to fire someone would be at the top of most lists. At the very least, certainly nowhere near the consideration for those with integrity.
The man in the picture is Matthew Baltzell, the CEO of a company called CapX Media. He is called a "LinkedIn influencer" in this recent article from "The Street" which details the current furor over his managerial skills and that smirk. "Influencer" is a very prevalent and often amusing term in today's media. It indicates a level of following on social media that is seen as a level of success. Fair to say there are many people who make millions from their ability to "influence" buying and expenditure decisions among the masses, but the characterization is often overblown and based on nothing more than opinion. Plenty of people consider themelves an "influencer" while reaching a miniscule audience, eagerly checking their clicks every 10 minutes.
I found it fascinating how "The Street" called Baltzell an "influencer", while the LinkedIn page for his company shows 7 followers. We use to call influencers "salespeople", and their videos "commercials". But, I digress.
Frankly, I had never heard of Baltzell untiI reading "The Street" story, so I decided to do a middling dive into Matthew Baltzell to see what the ruckus was all about.
CapX Media is not to be confused with other iterations of the name CapX, including the UK-based aggregate news website, a center-right political platform that was founded by the Centre for Policy Studies. This CapX claims on its website to be the "#1 Real Estate Podcast Booking Service", offering no reference basis on how that claim is made. Want to be taken seriously? Don't make claims unless you can back them up. Anyone can call themselves #1 at anything, and it's easy to discern with evidence. There's that simple sales element, again.
CapX Media is, in essence, another booking agent service, advertising that when you pay them, they will get you booked on real estate-centric podcasts. The links to promotional stories about them and their success are, at best, 5 years old with nothing more current, which could lead one to wonder about their recent success and if they're worth the money. The three "testimonials" on their site are interesting, as the two of them that are working, (one goes blank), detail their experience working with a company called "Elite Podcast Bookings". A Google search has a company by that name with both an Instagram and X account. The X account has only 25 followers and has not posted anything new since 2020. The website address redirects to CapX Media. The last posting on the company Instagram account is from March of 2023, an advertisement for their services. There is no website to view, instead sending people to a LinkedTree page. As an aside, Bartzell's personal Instagram page shows 1,000+ followers, but the last video post is from 2022.
The confusion here raises more than a few ethical concerns about whom business is being conducted with. What happened to "Elite", and why are references to their expertise not updated? One has to go to Baltzell's LinkedIn profile to find that he was the "Founder" of "Elite Podcast Bookings" for about four years, with the business ending in March 2024, the same time he started CapX Media. As the 2 websites and businesses are connected, it would behoove anyone to have that front and center in the marketing.
While Baltzell is promoting himself as a booking agent, his core background is not in the media. He is a self-described real estate investor who currently works for a private equity company in Dallas, TX. Nothing wrong at all with branching out and creating a new career, but you would think that in order to be a reliable booking agent, there would be some backrgound other than being in the real estate field. Undoubtedly, Baltzell is using his deep experience in real estate to connect with others in his field about having his clients as guests on their podcast. It's an easy cherry-pick, and something every agent does to drum up initial business.
It is not uncommon to ask for money upfront to book people as guests on shows and podcasta, though I will tell you that most reputable agents in any talent-centric field do not take upfront money, instead a commission payment on what they are able to deliver. Podcasting is, without question, a very unique animal as there are so many of them with so many varying ways of determining success. The CapX Media charges to the client run from $2500 to $8100, packages that provide varying levels of promised results. That is indeed pricey, but could be valuable to a client if there are listeners and provable results, something I would caution anyone looking to hire anyone in this field to research. Of the 8 podcasts promoted on the CapX Media website as those they do business with, 6 of the shows are in current production, and have measureable downloads. However, what are the results for the client? For that kind of guaranteed expenditure, there should be recordable and viable return numbers. It's the first thing I would recommend anyone ask for before spending any amount of money. That pulls up a blank on their website.
Now, let's dig into this ruckus about Baltzell's smiling visage while talking about how he fired someone. In his zeal to try and create discussion on how best to terminate an employee, he has shown a serious lack of managerial skills and concern for the human element. Jobs are being lost at sometimes record rates in many industries. Actually, those are not jobs being lost. Those are human beings who have seen their lifelines cut, placing they and their families in serious economic jeopardy, and in many cases means the end of whatever craft they have chosen. It's mentally crushing, and nothing to be cavalier about. Baltzell gaffed badly here, his text about how to fire someone perhaps useful to a few, (though very skimpy and without any real meat), but the smiling picture that accompanied his comment reveals someone with zero management skills at the human level. It's insulting, not just to the person he fired, but to anyone who might for a moment consider working for or with him.
Is this the kind of person you want representing you? Is the person who so gleefully touts himself in a moment terminating someone going to have your best interests (and money) at heart? If you would consider working for him at any level, does he engender a sense of trust that your effort will be seen as valuable and worthy of your time? I have been on both sides of this issue, having released and been released from positions over the years. While I didn't always agree with being released, I never had anyone seem to take glee in the ousting, certainly not on social media as it didn's exist back in the cave dwelling days. When cutting someone, I treated them with respect and did everything in my power to make it as soft a landing as possible. I never took glee in having to do what was considered necessary.
What we have here is along the lines of what we used to call a "tempest in a teapot". However, it does offer insight into why everyone needs to question every single thing about those who are either deemed or call themselves "influencers". It is a word tossed around and used in so many different ways that it's worth has been incredibly diluted, and should bring everyone to pause before taking the bait. Baltzell's cavalier attitude in firing someone is an equally important part of the issue. He has earned the derision that comes with his mistake, and hopefully he himself has learned from the error.
Don't treat peoples lives with such disdain. It's not all about you, Matthew. As someone who holds the future of another person in their hand, you need to care more about them and less about you. Reputation is important, as is your personal brand. Taking an old adage and making it fit current social mores,, "Be certain your common sense is in gear before you approach the leyboard".
Comments