A seemingly innocuous connection request on LinkedIn turned hostile when the CEO of one company sent a threatening message to the founder of a rival. Ali Schwanke, founder of Simple Strat, shared a screenshot of the message on X, where it quickly went viral.
Carlos Pantoja, CEO of Optima Solutions, connected with Schwanke and included a message that read, "Your first and only warning: do not try to poach my employees or you will have no employees yourself." The message was signed off with a sarcastic "With much love."
Schwanke decided to leave the names of both companies and CEOs uncensored, stating that "an unwarranted threat" didn't deserve the courtesy of anonymity. The post has garnered over two million views and sparked discussions about professional conduct on online platforms.
"I could understand if you personally knew each other, and in which case I'd be like, "Dude, why are you trying to poach my people?"But the aggression is something," commented a user on the post. To which Ali Schwanke replied, "Right? I haven't talked to anybody and haven't heard of his company before. Maybe somebody follows my YouTube channel or podcast? So weird and creepy."
"Dear Carlos, People don't leave bad jobs. They have bad leadership. This message is a perfect example of why you're losing employees. Feel free to look in the mirror and do some self-reflection. Have an amazing day! Ali," a user framed a reply from Ms Schwanke's side in the comment section.
