Uploaded February 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago

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Roy Jakobs had to lay off his first employees at just 25 years old, and the experience didn’t go as he expected. He came in with a rational explanation of the business reasons behind the decision, but was met with raw, unexpected emotion.

One moment has stayed with him ever since: an employee, overwhelmed, dropped his trousers in front of him.

“You’re literally undressing me because this is my life. This is who I am, and I don’t know what to do,” Jakobs recalled the man telling him.

Jakobs eventually regained control of the situation, but the encounter changed how he thought about leadership, empathy and the human impact of tough decisions. It’s a lesson he carried with him into the CEO role at Philips.

Watch/Listen to the full episode of “Executive Decisions with Steve Sedgwick on the link below.

#CNBC #CNBCPodcast #ExecutiveDecisions

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