3 ms·

It is about 80% of my meetings that they can join, some are no shadows. And in quarter of the meetings they do join they are asked to leave towards the end so

by sytse 4y ago

It is about 80% of my meetings that they can join, some are no shadows. And in quarter of the meetings they do join they are asked to leave towards the end so that there can be a short closed session. We also have extra confidentiality restrictions for the shadows.

swyx 4y ago
you are one of my heroes, but i just have to say i cannot imagine how you aren’t absolutely exhausted after having to be so transparent 24/7 for like a decade. i’m a pretty transparent guy, but having to have my meetings streamed on youtube and someone shadowing me 80% of the time seeing me at my worst, i can’t imagine. hats off but also i would like your secret to eternal youth, internal consistency and unlimited energy.
- perfmode 4y ago
  in my experience, it's not the transparency that is exhausting. it's the hiding of things. when i approach life with truthfulness and transparency, i feel light as a feather.
  - mattwad 4y ago
    As CEO, you get to decide if you have to hide things or not. And if you do, everyone underneath you will also hide things, and then everyone has to come to you for anything. I call this "hub and spoke" leadership. It's extremely tiring, but some people love the attention, or just don't know any better, or maybe just want the job security.
    - Stratoscope 4y ago
      > "hub and spoke" leadership I will have to remember that phrase. I once worked for someone like that. It was awful. • The leader was the sole and absolute authority on everything the team did. • If a team member came up with an idea of our own, we were not allowed to write a ticket to open it up for discussion. We were expected to have a private discussion with the leader first, and they would decide if it was worth pursuing. • Heaven help you if you ever wrote a balanced comment citing the pros and cons of any particular approach to a problem. The leader would quote you out of context in a team meeting, reading aloud only the parts of your comment that supported their position. • Secrecy was important. For major new projects, the leader would convene a private working group with hand-picked team members who would follow their lead, excluding anyone with more experience who might have insights or even disagreement on the development approach. • If you ever made a mistake that caused problems in production, you would get called out for it in front of the team. If the leader made a mistake and you tried to respectfully help shore up the problem, they would dig in their heels and argue against your fix. The leader does not make mistakes. • In that latter case where the leader made a mistake that caused problems in production, they would never acknowledge it or apologize for it. Apologies are a sign of weakness. Never going back there again.
      - LaurensBER 4y ago
        Did we work at the same organization? My previous boss did exactly that plus a bunch more psychopathic stuff like: - Praise someone in public before they leave, then block them from coming back - Promote the incompetent to further solidify their power position - Lie to customer, stakeholders, etc. Everything must present a good "image". The work or actual results were barely relevant - Have scapegoat at every level in case of failure. - Refuse to join status update meetings so that he could claim not to be involved with things that weren't going well and sacrifice a scapegoat
  - mgfist 4y ago
    It's not the hiding/transparency aspect, it's the scrutiny. I wouldn't like having people just sit there judging my every move.
    - vasco 4y ago
      Their judging of you happens in your head, not theirs.
      - mgfist 4y ago
        Fair, but that's even worse :-)

by sytse 4y ago

swyx 4y ago

you are one of my heroes, but i just have to say i cannot imagine how you aren’t absolutely exhausted after having to be so transparent 24/7 for like a decade. i’m a pretty transparent guy, but having to have my meetings streamed on youtube and someone shadowing me 80% of the time seeing me at my worst, i can’t imagine. hats off but also i would like your secret to eternal youth, internal consistency and unlimited energy.

perfmode 4y ago
in my experience, it's not the transparency that is exhausting. it's the hiding of things. when i approach life with truthfulness and transparency, i feel light as a feather.
- mattwad 4y ago
  As CEO, you get to decide if you have to hide things or not. And if you do, everyone underneath you will also hide things, and then everyone has to come to you for anything. I call this "hub and spoke" leadership. It's extremely tiring, but some people love the attention, or just don't know any better, or maybe just want the job security.
  - Stratoscope 4y ago
    > "hub and spoke" leadership I will have to remember that phrase. I once worked for someone like that. It was awful. • The leader was the sole and absolute authority on everything the team did. • If a team member came up with an idea of our own, we were not allowed to write a ticket to open it up for discussion. We were expected to have a private discussion with the leader first, and they would decide if it was worth pursuing. • Heaven help you if you ever wrote a balanced comment citing the pros and cons of any particular approach to a problem. The leader would quote you out of context in a team meeting, reading aloud only the parts of your comment that supported their position. • Secrecy was important. For major new projects, the leader would convene a private working group with hand-picked team members who would follow their lead, excluding anyone with more experience who might have insights or even disagreement on the development approach. • If you ever made a mistake that caused problems in production, you would get called out for it in front of the team. If the leader made a mistake and you tried to respectfully help shore up the problem, they would dig in their heels and argue against your fix. The leader does not make mistakes. • In that latter case where the leader made a mistake that caused problems in production, they would never acknowledge it or apologize for it. Apologies are a sign of weakness. Never going back there again.
    - LaurensBER 4y ago
      Did we work at the same organization? My previous boss did exactly that plus a bunch more psychopathic stuff like: - Praise someone in public before they leave, then block them from coming back - Promote the incompetent to further solidify their power position - Lie to customer, stakeholders, etc. Everything must present a good "image". The work or actual results were barely relevant - Have scapegoat at every level in case of failure. - Refuse to join status update meetings so that he could claim not to be involved with things that weren't going well and sacrifice a scapegoat
- mgfist 4y ago
  It's not the hiding/transparency aspect, it's the scrutiny. I wouldn't like having people just sit there judging my every move.
  - vasco 4y ago
    Their judging of you happens in your head, not theirs.
    - mgfist 4y ago
      Fair, but that's even worse :-)