By Ronald Sampson
Photo Credit: Reuters
When it comes to public faces of corporations, many of us know of Rick Smith, CEO of Axon. You have probably read many pieces about his unwanted apartment megacomplex in Scottsdale and his push to circumvent the will of the people to get his wish (you can read our coverage here). But there has been a significantly grosser attack dog that does the dirty work of the boss, and that is Josh Isner, the incredibly cringy President of Axon.
Isner has had a long history of using X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, as his platform to take incredibly immature shots at any of his enemies like a 19 year old desperately trying to be edgy and get attention. But a recent shot somehow manages to carve even lower lows of creepy weirdness.
Note the tweet from Isner below, and Councilman Barry Graham’s response.
Scouring campaign finance reports to creep on a perceived enemy is simply gross behavior, and then attempting to pull in the mayor in an attempt to “gotcha”? I would expect this behavior from a 24 year old with a political science degree in a low-level political campaign trying to be a bad-ass. The fact that this man is the president of a major publicly traded company is simply stunning.
And the “anonymous” man that Isner is referencing was subject to some of the ugliest bullying of Axon’s history, an example of “cancel culture” gone corporate: when Planning Commissioner Christian Serena dared to vote with his conscience against the Axon apartment megacomplex bill when it was in committee for a vote, Axon (and perhaps Isner personally, which wouldn’t be a surprise based on the aforementioned info) actually called his employer and attempted to strong-arm them to fire Serena.
Mind you, Isner was the guy who had the absolute nerve to say that Scottsdale politics were a “toxic environment”: yes, the guy who is de facto doxxing political opponents and very possibly trying to get one perceived enemy unemployed. This is the guy who is saying that the “internal politics of City Council” is making progress impossible. All of this without a hint of self-awareness.
Why does Axon feel it appropriate to be led by such a creepy, cringy person? Is this appropriate for the president of a Fortune 500 company? At best, it’s embarrassing. At worst? I’m not sure that I have the words to describe it. Regardless, Josh Isner does no one any favors: himself, Scottsdale, or Axon, and everyone involved would be better off if he was out of the picture.