I would assume, though I could be proved wrong, that any of his political/social/religious/other positions that he or anyone else wanted to make public would be well known by now. (Remember that Brendan Eich's Proposition 8 donation was well known two years before he was promoted to CEO.)
My personal views, not necessarily shared by other Mozillians:
Brendan's support of Prop. 8 was part of both public record and common knowledge, including his public response to the 2012 controversy around it. With this knowledge, the MoCo board promoted him to CEO. Both this decision and his decision to step down were controversial because of his public political activity. Now, if a new CEO candidate had taken actions similar to Brendan's, that would reasonably affect their views and the board's (and Mozilla's staff, community, users, partners, etc.) about whether it would best serve the project for the board to name them CEO. Obviously, eyes on Mozilla in this regard. But it does not necessarily follow - as much as some people want it to - that every belief held by the new candidate must be suddenly made public and deemed relevant to their job.
I there's a version of the fundamental attribution error at work here [1]. People have decided that politicization of the CEO role is something intrinsic to Mozilla in particular, rather than something that would happen with any organization that put itself in a similar situation. (And conversely, not happen when the situation is not similar.) It truth, the same situation could repeat itself. But if it does, it's just as likely - probably more likely - to involve a different company and a different individual.
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fundamental_Attribution_Error
I have a hard time believing there would have been a mass exodus from Mozilla products, and I think after a few months things would have died down.
The board picked him because they felt he was the best man for the job. They knew about his past, including the public records of his political background... yet still thought he was the right guy to lead them into the future. Any CEO in place now is at-best, the second choice.
I think it's a real shame we've let politics govern our business.
However, what does the political background of a CEO matter? Can he do the job? Can he lead them to success? Those are the questions that should be asked about any new big business executive... not rather or not he supported issue X at some point in the past.
Not because of innate analytical/communicative capacity difference in the individual, but just public relations angle and the ability to rally teammates of diverse backgrounds under one banner. It's nothing personal in that case. Just business.
I'm not saying you're wrong, just that there is a line somewhere, and it matters. If it's illegal (in my country) to refuse to employ someone based on their sexuality, or race, or religion - can you justify the right to refuse the same thing for supporting the right to gay marriage? And if not, why does the opposite not hold?
1) Don't speak about your political views, keep them to yourself
2) Don't contribute to any political funds, it may be used against you in the future.
3) Don't be controversial in any regard.
Seems like these are actually the opposite of what I would want in a CEO. I would want to know where my CEO stands on certain issues, what their level of political activism is; what do they view as important outside of the company?
This really isn't just about social issues, but any issues including bills like CISPA and PIPA (and reincarnates), since they are very important to my sector today... but if a CEO speaks out against them today, and in 10 years that view is unfavorable... will it be used against him/her?
if you plan to run a business revolving around shooting, better not donate to gun control
if you plan to run a business that is a mission oriented open source company, that therefore hires quite a few people who live their politics, and that draws heavily from a politically liberal city that has a long history of welcoming glbtq people, you need to avoid deliberately offending them and their friends
If a company promotes a bigot as a CEO, then people will question whether the company is being ethical in its business practices, or will be in the future. People will also think that it isn't fair for someone who is a bigot to be successful while trying to deny other people basic rights, and will be upset by that.
If you are referring to the previous Mozilla CEO, he was hardly a "bigot". He (I believe, going from memory here) donated $1,000 to an organization that was against same-sex marriage in CA many years back (the same election that had an overwhelming yes vote that year, more than 60%, -- a yes vote on the prop was to continue outlawing same-sex-marriage).
So, fast forward to today, and this CEO was chastised for a political contribution that sided with the majority at the time. Today, it would likely be a political minority that feel that way... but at the time it was a majority.
Is he not allowed to change his attitude/views about political topics? I know mine has changed in the past few years, and I expect it to change more as the future comes.
No he didn't... he funded an organization (with a one-time $1,000 donation) that was against same-sex marriage. That's a far cry from directly funding adverts.
And, at the time, his view and contribution was in the significant majority here in California. Today, maybe not, but back then, his views were shared by a vast majority (almost 60% in the vote). That's not to say it's right... only to point out we are chastising an individual for past beliefs that were popular at the time, but have gown to be unpopular today.
Horribly untrue and very off-base. I live in California and voted in that election, and remember it well. Let's not exaggerate history.
I find it repulsive how badly you are willing to distort the truth to make this man appear like a monster.
There were none of the advert campaigns you speak of.
The adverts that were run, mostly discussed "keeping the sanctity of marriage".
Please do some homework before stating atrocities that are this inaccurate.
The people of California did not sway their vote because of some advert campaign anyways. This subject has been put to a vote before, and since then, with the same outcome. This is not to say I believe it's right -- only stating the facts.
Regardless, open source has nothing to do with sexuality. Nothing. Who cares!? Do what you do, so long as you contribute something to the project.