After years on the job you have an eagle eye for the subtle hints that slip out. Talking over people, dismissing options that are different than yours, playfully teasing people that don’t reciprocate, etc.
Maybe it’s nothing, but when I watch his videos I have flashbacks to problematic leaders who often get shit reviews when employees are allowed to submit feedback anonymously.
But can you really reciprocate against the literal CEO/owner? I wouldnt dare to tease back my boss should he poke fun at me. No matter how playful it was meant to be. I would joke with his comment but never shoot bavk or at least aim to do it.
Depends on the company. I’ve worked in places where it is totally cool to take the boss down a peg, in a sarcastic / light way. I’ve also worked in places where my employees have feel safe enough to do that to me.
But the end of the day, he’s in a position of power and controls their pay check. Dude shouldn’t be playing around with his employees like that if they’re not reciprocating. That means they probably don’t feel safe.
Every HR training video has at least one segment on this. Linus needs to be forced to watch some basic managerial training videos.