4 ms·

Nah. Everywhere I've ever worked, you can tell any boss things they don't want to hear. What you have to do is do it respectfully. I've told directors and VPs

Nah. Everywhere I've ever worked, you can tell any boss things they don't want to hear. What you have to do is do it respectfully. I've told directors and VPs multiple levels up from me that I thought they were wrong about something in large meetings. I said it to their face and respectfully, and that was fine. As long as you understand your place and don't publicly trash your boss, there's normally no problem. The tweet in question here was... not that.

bmitc 4y ago
Was his original tweet actually disrespectful? His CEO is openly ridiculing his own company's engineering teams, and he simply said that what Musk said was wrong. The second tweet had some more sass to it to match the tweet he was responding to, but it also wasn't all that bad. He points out the above in that Musk should be bringing these things up internally rather than publicly belittling his own employees with what appears to be incorrect information.
bamboozled 4y ago
It's not about that, it's that you have to think and put a lot of mental energy into "being respectful" rather than just being straight forwards and direct. You have to wait for the right time etc. Giving feedback has higher risk and cost to it than it would otherwise be so why even do it? While I'm not claiming it's an immediate crisis, I think it is and will continue to become a net long term loss for corporate American culture. Musk is now teaching the world you can just fire people for saying anything you don't like without even a phone call, it will only make people more apprehensive to talk more freely.
- mathlover2 4y ago
  I think more than anything else Musk is teaching people to never apply to any company he owns under any circumstances. This isn't going to be treated as a role model for managers. It's going to be a model of exactly what not to do as a CEO, not just on HR issues, but everything else. I seriously don't see Twitter ever being able to hire a worker of any significant skill level ever again.
- blooalien 4y ago
  Funny that Musk was touting "free speech" as one of his reasons for wanting to buy Twitter in the first place, innit?
  - bamboozled 4y ago
    Very clear at this stage that had nothing to do with his real intentions.
- randy909 4y ago
  Being respectful and just being straight forward and direct are the same thing as long as you're not being an asshole while being straight forward and direct. I do agree that it can take extra mental energy to translate "this idea is stupid" to "the downside of this approach is..." if you are prone to thinking in a harsh, cynical voice (I'm guilty of it). That is energy well spent.
devwastaken 4y ago
Looked pretty respectful to me. Musk was throwing devs under the bus, a dev politely corrected them.

bmitc 4y ago

Was his original tweet actually disrespectful? His CEO is openly ridiculing his own company's engineering teams, and he simply said that what Musk said was wrong. The second tweet had some more sass to it to match the tweet he was responding to, but it also wasn't all that bad. He points out the above in that Musk should be bringing these things up internally rather than publicly belittling his own employees with what appears to be incorrect information.

bamboozled 4y ago

It's not about that, it's that you have to think and put a lot of mental energy into "being respectful" rather than just being straight forwards and direct. You have to wait for the right time etc. Giving feedback has higher risk and cost to it than it would otherwise be so why even do it? While I'm not claiming it's an immediate crisis, I think it is and will continue to become a net long term loss for corporate American culture. Musk is now teaching the world you can just fire people for saying anything you don't like without even a phone call, it will only make people more apprehensive to talk more freely.

mathlover2 4y ago
I think more than anything else Musk is teaching people to never apply to any company he owns under any circumstances. This isn't going to be treated as a role model for managers. It's going to be a model of exactly what not to do as a CEO, not just on HR issues, but everything else. I seriously don't see Twitter ever being able to hire a worker of any significant skill level ever again.
blooalien 4y ago
Funny that Musk was touting "free speech" as one of his reasons for wanting to buy Twitter in the first place, innit?
- bamboozled 4y ago
  Very clear at this stage that had nothing to do with his real intentions.
randy909 4y ago
Being respectful and just being straight forward and direct are the same thing as long as you're not being an asshole while being straight forward and direct. I do agree that it can take extra mental energy to translate "this idea is stupid" to "the downside of this approach is..." if you are prone to thinking in a harsh, cynical voice (I'm guilty of it). That is energy well spent.

devwastaken 4y ago

Looked pretty respectful to me. Musk was throwing devs under the bus, a dev politely corrected them.