'We had to lay off employees and it was my fault': CEO shares 'vulnerable' confession

Braden Wallake, CEO of social networking companies Hyper Social and Hyper Sphere. (Image credit: LinkedIn)

At a time when companies are laying off employees by the hundreds, the CEO of a US company has taken to social media to open up about the layoffs in his company while taking responsibility for it.

Braden Wallake, CEO of social networking companies Hyper Social and Hyper Sphere, took to LinkedIn to write what he called "the most vulnerable thing I'll ever share."

"I've gone back and forth whether to post this or not. We just had to layoff a few of our employees. I've seen a lot of layoffs over the last few weeks on LinkedIn. Most of those are due to the economy, or whatever other reason. Ours? My fault," Wallake wrote.

"I made a decision in February to stop selling our main services and focus on a new service. A higher priced service. It's a great service, and something we will continue to offer, but it's for the right kinds of companies," he added.

"Now, I know my team will say that 'we made that decision together', but I lead us into it. And because of those failings, I had to do today, the toughest thing I've ever had to do."

Braden Wallake further went on to say that despite the layoffs, the company has always been a people first business. He added that he wished he was a business owner that was only money driven and didn't care about who he hurt along the way, "But I'm not," he said.

Read more: Better.com CEO Vishal Garg, in Zoom call shocker, lays off 900 employees in US, India. Watch

Explaining why he chose to make a public announcement, Wallake said, "I just want people to see, that not every CEO out there is cold-hearted and doesn't care when he/she have to lay people off."

"I know it isn't professional to tell my employees that I love them. But from the bottom of my heart, I hope they know how much I do. Every single one. I've always hire people based on who they are as people. People with great hearts, and great souls. And I can't think of a lower moment than this."

Read the full LinkedIn post here.

Read more: Better.com's Vishal Garg plans next layoffs, over 3,000 employees in India, US: report