, Columnist
A Lesson From Eric Clapton for a Luckless Boss
Email gaffe has a serious side too.
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Jes Staley's embarrassing email exchange with a prankster could have been worse. No attachment was clicked on, no data leaked and no cash wired to Nigerian princes. (His fondness for Eric Clapton is a matter of taste.) But for a CEO already trying to draw a line under a misguided attempt to unmask a Barclays whistleblower, the unsophisticated nature of the hoax -- and his response -- doesn't look great in terms of judgement or leadership.
The hoax itself, reported by the FT's Alphaville blog, was the email equivalent of a prank phone call. Staley's trust was won by a Gmail address purporting to belong to Barclays chairman John McFarlane. The impersonation was so convincing that Staley responded not once but twice.