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eBay: When Ego Replaced Ethics

What happens when criticism becomes personal, and a leader’s offense becomes the organization’s agenda?

In this episode, CD examines the eBay harassment scandal and the leadership failures that allowed executive frustration to escalate into coordinated misconduct.

David and Ina Steiner, publishers of EcommerceBytes, had covered the e-commerce industry for decades. After eBay executives began describing them internally as “trolls” and “enemies,” members of the company’s security team launched a disturbing harassment campaign involving threatening deliveries, surveillance, and cyberstalking.

The consequences were severe: seven former employees pleaded guilty to federal charges, eBay paid a $3 million criminal penalty, and a July 2026 civil settlement totaled $55.7 million.

Three Leadership Failures

• The leader’s ego became the organization’s agenda.
• Groupthink silenced individual judgment.
• Dehumanizing language removed ethical restraint.

Here’s the Fix

• Values must survive pressure, or they are not values.
• Leaders set the ethical ceiling through both their words and emotions.
• Organizations must build safe channels for dissent before a crisis occurs.
• Dehumanizing language should be treated as an organizational warning sign.

Key Takeaway

When leaders frame critics as enemies, employees may stop asking, “What is right?” and start asking, “What does the boss want?”

Scripture

Proverbs 11:3 — “The integrity of the upright guides them, but the crookedness of the treacherous destroys them.”

Genesis 1:27 reminds us that every person is made in the image of God—and must never be reduced to a label, an obstacle, or an enemy.

CD Rogers-Wright

cdeerw71@gmail.com