Should Business Leaders Fear For Their Lives? What You're Not Hearing About the UnitedHealthcare CEO Tragedy.

This week's tragic shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson successful New York has raised interest astir the information of firm leaders.

CNN says, "UnitedHealthcare CEO's sidesplitting shows why companies walk millions to protect their apical executives." A Forbes columnist predicts that "after the shooting... information unit will beryllium successful demand." And, according to this Wall Street Journal report, his sidesplitting "prompted an contiguous re-evaluation of longstanding information practices crossed firm America," and "dozens" of information chiefs from ample U.S. companies convened together connected a telephone to talk the situation.

"The situation is explosive correct now," a erstwhile Boston constabulary commissioner who now (no surprise) consults pinch ample companies connected mitigating information risks told the Journal. "The threats are evolving and getting much violent."

Okay, let's calm down, shall we?

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Of course, there's logic down this concern. Corporate executives are not only much successful the spotlight than ever before, but they are besides not excessively difficult to find. They be nationalist events, shareholder meetings and societal functions each complete the world. Often, companies make their schedules nationalist aliases people property releases noting wherever they'll be. Getting clasp of their location addresses is simply a fewer steps online. Digging into their individual relationships takes minutes, acknowledgment to LinkedIn, X and Facebook.

If you're a firm executive, you tin easy beryllium targeted by personification who, say, wants to correct a incorrect aliases impersonate a societal justness warrior for 15 minutes of fame. But this is not a caller thing, is it?

Uber's erstwhile CEO, Travis Kalanick, was egged successful Taiwan successful 2017. Bill Gates was hit pinch a pie successful the look during an overseas sojourn successful 1998. Rubert Murdoch and the CEOs of Qantas Airlines and the now defunct Enron Corporation also sewage pie-ed. Frankly, tons of business leaders and celebrities have been "involuntarily" pied complete the years.

But the execution of a CEO is, obviously, overmuch much serious. Thankfully, these situations person not only been fewer and acold betwixt but almost non-existent.

An advertizing executive was murdered successful New Jersey successful 1994, but that turned retired to beryllium the Unabomber's doing. A Microsoft executive was shot and killed successful Florida successful 2022, but the culprit turned retired to beryllium his ex-wife's husband. George Tiller, who owned a women's wellness session successful Kansas, was murdered by an anti-abortion extremist astatine a religion work (his session was the target of "multiple attacks" previously).

I don't want to downplay aliases trivialize the gravity of what happened to Thompson. But I've searched Google and various chatbots for illustration Perplexity and ChatGPT for examples of different CEOs who person met the aforesaid destiny and travel up short.

There are currently 55,000 publically held companies successful the world, and the U.S. has much than six million employee-owned businesses alone. These companies are led not only by CEOs and business owners but by teams of elder executives who would each make enticing targets for the attraction seeker. And yet, location are very, very fewer incidents for illustration this. Senior executives look much astatine consequence of succumbing to a skiing mishap aliases going down successful a level clang than immoderate random personification shooting them constituent blank connected a engaged New York City street.

Which is why we should each calm down for a minute. The media loves to utilization the worst of our fears and anxieties to get clicks. So they constitute things for illustration "security will beryllium successful demand" and "the situation is explosive." Posts like these from irresponsible "journalists" surely do not thief either. It's a awesome trading infinitesimal for information firms. But should corporations beryllium making knee-jerk decisions to all-of-the-sudden commencement spending important sums for information complete what seems to beryllium an isolated incident? If your CEO is Mark Zuckerberg, a celebrity, I get it. But for each others? I'm not truthful sure.

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Why? Because group don't spell astir shooting different people. Our systems — while they don't drawback everyone — are beautiful bully astatine isolating those pinch criminal histories aliases who request watching. Guns tin beryllium obtained some legally and illegally, but pulling disconnected a shooting requires patience, accomplishment and planning.

Of course, group successful nationalist positions request to beryllium observant successful today's world. CEOs who get governmental aliases progressive successful societal issues aliases support definite arguable causes are expanding their consequence of battle from a mini fraction of lunatics that reason them. Executives who tally firms that are progressive successful life and decease matters, specified arsenic healthcare, besides request to beryllium careful. All leaders person to beryllium alert of their surroundings. If they person threats — arsenic Thompson allegedly did — they must return them seriously. Those are the situations wherever added information measures are needed, beryllium it provided by section constabulary aliases done backstage firms.

But arsenic you tin spot from the numbers, these situations are fewer and acold between. So, nary 1 should beryllium panicking. Corporations don't request to situation their CEOs pinch concealed service-type agents successful sunglasses. Some do, and they salary millions for the privilege. But for the immense mostly of firm executives, they tin return bosom that we haven't gotten to that point. And I don't deliberation we will ever get to that constituent — astatine slightest not successful the foreseeable future.

Thompson's shooting was tragic. But it was a uncommon event. An anomaly. We should mourn for this man. But, pinch apologies to the information industry, we shouldn't beryllium overreacting.