Great moments in leadership, #1: MacMillan CEO steals laptops to "teach Google a lesson"

According to Techdirt, giant publishing company MacMillan's CEO Richard Charkin stole two computers from a Google trade show display at Book Expo America recently.

Here's his version of events:

"a colleague and I simply picked up two computers from the Google stand and waited in close proximity until someone noticed. This took more than an hour.

Our justification for this appalling piece of criminal behaviour? The owner of the computer had not specifically told us not to steal it. If s/he had, we would not have done so. When s/he asked for its return, we did so. It is exactly what Google expects publishers to expect and accept in respect to intellectual property.

'If you don't tell us we may not digitise something, we shall do so. But we do no evil. So if you tell us to desist we shall.'

I felt rather shabby playing this trick on Google. They should feel the same playing the same trick on authors and publishers."

His latest posting on the topic:

The Google heist posting of last week is still generating considerable comment here and elsewhere. I am being characterised variously as a fool, a child, a luddite, a crook, or a counter-revolutionary. Hey ho. At least it has generated debate, not least as to whether physical property has greater rights to protection than intellectual property.

I think this is a really stupid thing for him to do. I'd say the same about someone as publicity savvy and hungry as Richard Branson, who would be more likely to pull a stunt like that, but a book publishing CEO? Just unseemly.

Ciao,
Bob.