反同性婚姻 Mozilla執行長下台
摘錄自：天下雜誌 經濟學人電子報 2014/4/11
2014-04-08 Web
only 作者：經濟學人
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| 圖片來源：flickr.com/photos/strandell/ |
推出Firefox瀏覽器等軟體的Mozilla，最近失去了它的執行長艾克（Brendan Eich）；艾克上任不到2周即請辭，也引發了十分棘手的問題：該如何劃分領導者的個人信念與他在企業扮演角色。
2008年，艾克向八號提案的宣傳活動捐助了1,000美元；八號投票提案的目標，便是禁止加州的同性婚姻。幾年前，艾克支持八號提案一事曝光之時，曾在推特圈中引發巨大的批評聲浪，但風波最後還是平息了。
上個月，艾克從科技長升任執行長，再次點燃了批評之聲；部分Mozilla員工不滿艾克對同性婚姻的態度，要求他辭職。約會網站OkCupid也向使用Firefox連線的使用者送出訊息，以艾克反對同性婚姻為由，希望他們改用其他的瀏覽器。
艾克選擇投降，Mozilla執行董事長貝克（Mitchell Baker）也在部落格中承認，艾克的個人信念為公司帶來了兩難。許多人大力質疑，艾克對同性婚姻的看法，與他帶領軟體企業的能力根本沒有關係。畢竟，艾克似乎非常適合這個工作；他是Mozilla的共同創立者，也是JavaScript的設計者。
然而，Mozilla並不是一間典型的企業。它比較像是社群組織，強力支持所謂的「開源軟體」，也支持保持網際網路的開放性。Mozilla十分倚賴程式設計者和他人的善意與支持；為了吸引這些人，Mozilla一向強調自己是個開放又具包容性的工作場所。
部分批評者指出，在Mozilla難以適應行動裝置時代之際，實在不能失去艾克這樣的人才。他們也強調，以個人信念為由強迫執行長辭職，等同於立下了危險的先例。
但執行長必須要能讓其他人追隨，也要能在廣大市場中激起信心。艾克就任執行長在Mozilla內部造成的分裂，可能會危及Mozilla追求的目標；OkCupid的決定，亦證明這場風波已經開始衝擊Mozilla的業務。
為何貝克在升任艾克時並沒有預料到如此衝擊？貝克在部落格文章中強調Mozilla員工的「多元化和包容性」，但也承認董事會並沒有「聆聽、接觸和接受社群的指引」。她那遲來的坦白值得稱許，但她的領導能力還是應該受到質疑。（黃維德編譯）
©The Economist
Newspaper Limited 2014
The Economist
Mozilla's boss resigns
Exit Mr Eich
By The Economist
From The Economist
Published: April 08, 2014
Apr 4th 2014,
10:25 by M.G. | SAN FRANCISCO
MOZILLA, the
outfit behind the Firefox web browser and other software, has just lost its
chief executive, Brendan Eich, who resigned on April 3rd after spending little
more than a week in the job. His departure raises thorny questions about where
lines should be drawn between leaders' personal beliefs and their corporate
roles.
Mr Eich quit after
a controversy blew up about his views on gay marriage. In 2008 he gave $1,000
to a campaign that supported Proposition 8, a California ballot measure banning
same-sex marriage in the state. The measure passed but was subject to legal
challenges. Prop 8's supporters went all the way to the federal Supreme Court,
which last year dismissed their appeal, thus allowing gay marriage in
California to go ahead. When Mr Eich's support for the proposition became
publica couple of years ago, it provoked an outcry in the Twittersphere, but
this eventually died down. Mr Eich arguedthat Mozilla should stay focused on
its mission and not allow differences of personal opinion to cloud its
operations.
His elevation last
month from chief technology officer to the top job at Mozilla rekindled the
furore. Some Mozilla employees upset with Mr Eich's views on gay marriage
called on himto step down. To make matters worse from Mozilla's perspective,
OkCupid, a dating site, this week began sending out a messageto visitors coming
to it via Firefox that called on them to use an alternative browswer because of
Mr Eich's public stance against gay marriage.
Faced with all
this, Mr Eich threw in the towel. In a blog postabout his departure, Mozilla's
executive chairwoman, Mitchell Baker, admitted that the former chief
executive's beliefs had created a dilemma for the company. "Mozilla
believes both in equality and freedom of speech," she wrote.
"Equality is necessary for meaningful speech. And you need to have free
speech to fight for equality. Figuring out how to stand for both at the same
time can be hard."
Plenty of folk
have wondered out loud why Mr Eich's views on gay marriage had anything to do
with his ability to lead an organisation that makes software. After all, he
seemed eminently suited to the job given his track record as a co-founder of
Mozilla and the man behind JavaScript, a very popular programming language.
However, the
dilemma that Ms Baker refers to is real. Mozilla isn't a typical company. It is
more of a community organisation that is strongly committed to so-called
"open-source software", which is developed collaboratively and then
licensed for use in such a way that it can be studied and changed easily by
others. The outfit also campaigns actively to keep the internet open in the
face of efforts by a few giant tech companies such as Google and Facebook to
carve it up into fiefdoms that they rule over.
So Mozilla is a
bizarre beast in the world of tech: part business and part internet missionary.
It also relies heavily on the goodwill of programmers and others to support its
efforts. To woo them, the outfit has stressed that it is an open and inclusive
workplace. In her blog post Ms Baker refers to the fact that Mozilla
"prides itself on being held to a different standard" as an
organisation.
By appointing Mr
Eich to the top job, Mozilla's board members must have known they were risking
a backlash. They only needed to consider the experience of Chick-fil-A, an
American fast-food chain whose boss, Dan Cathy, had also publicly opposed gay
marriage. Mr Cathy recently said he regrettedtaking a public stance on the
issue after his firm was hit by a consumer boycott.
Some critics say
that at a time when Mozilla is struggling to adapt its wares to a world
dominated by smartphones and other mobile devices, it can ill-afford to lose a
talented techie like Mr Eich. And they argue that forcing a boss to resign on
the basis of his beliefs is a dangerous precedent that smacks of political
correctness gone mad.
But a chief
executive has to be able to get people to follow him and engender confidence in
the broader marketplace. The schism Mr Eich's appointment caused within Mozilla
risked damaging its ability to pursue its mission. And OKCupid's decision to
call on Firefox users to switch to other web browsers is evidence that the
fallout was starting to have a real impact on Mozilla's operations.
All this raises
the question of why Ms Baker did not anticipate the impact that Mr Eich's
promotion would have. In her blog post, she trumpets the "diversity and inclusiveness"
of Mozilla's workforce, yet admits at the same time that the board failed
"to listen, to engage and to be guided by our community". We should
applaud her belated frankness, but hard questions should be asked of her own
leadership in this sad saga.
©The Economist
Newspaper Limited 2014
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