‘No work after 6 pm’: Viral video of ousted Starbucks CEO Laxman Narasimhan advocating work-life balance creates buzz

The abrupt departure of Laxman Narasimhan from Starbucks Corporation was followed by the appointment of Chipotle CEO Brian Niccol as the new CEO of the global coffee chain. After the announcement, an old video of Narsimhan shedding light on his disciplined work-life balance resurfaced on the internet and went viral. In an interview for Fortune Magazine, Laxman Narasimhan shared that he is very disciplined about his work-life balance and that he “doesn't work after 6 pm.”

“I am very disciplined about balance. It is anything after 6 pm, and if I am in town then it's got to be a pretty high bar to keep me away from family,” said Laxman Narasimhan in the video that has been widely shared on social media lately.

Starbucks recently announced that it is replacing its current CEO, Laxman Narasimhan, with Chipotle CEO Brian Niccol. Starbucks didn't reveal the details about Narasimhan's departure. According to a Bloomberg report, Narasimhan's departure is another case of a record rise in the number of CEO ousters at US companies.

The video has been widely shared on the internet and has garnered myriad social media reactions.

“Now it makes sense why Starbucks would be so eager to replace the CEO. I don't know him personally, but in that role, to put a 6 pm hard limit (aside from anything else) is sufficient, unfortunately,” wrote a social media user on X.

The post with Narasimhan's video shared by TripleNetInvest has garnered nearly 1.6 million views and thousands of comments.

“If you say something like this when the stock price is doing well, you sound like a genius. But if it's not doing well...you get fired,” read a comment on the post.

“Maybe he just needs to drink coffee,” read another comment on the post.

“Was it not working past six or was it just a bad CEO not understanding the product or the environment? It’s hard to tell. Maybe it’s all of it. Maybe it’s one of it who knows,” an X user shared opinion.

Starbucks has posted two straight quarters of comparable sales declines. Moreover, its shares had slumped 20% this year before the CEO change. The firm was also facing pressure from investors like Elliott Investment Management and Starboard Value, and former CEO Howard Schultz to tackle company's dripping sales, reported Bloomberg.