4 ms·

Amazing how much of that post was about the CEO's personal relationship with the layoffs, considering the #1 bit of advice in every comment on yesterday's threa

by dewitt 11y ago

Amazing how much of that post was about the CEO's personal relationship with the layoffs, considering the #1 bit of advice in every comment on yesterday's thread about layoffs was "whatever you do, don't make it about yourself." [1] I don't know if it's good advice or bad advice, but the dissonance was strong. PS: I still respect the CEO. The actions (severance, health care, references, etc.) speak loudly, even when the words, no matter how heartfelt and sincere, aren't always the right ones. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9876009 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9876009

cblock811 11y ago
I think it's good to tell yourself "Don't make it about me" but in the end, he was a leader who had to let go of team members. Seems natural that he would feel things over it. It would be like saying "Startups die all the time. Don't make it about yourself." From what I read (and I don't know this person at all) he seems to really own his role as a leader. I noticed is that he took responsibility for strategy though, which is refreshing to read every now and then.
- gohrt 11y ago
  "Don't make [public announcements] about yourself" is not the same as "Don't care about yourself or your feelings". The audience is relevant.
  - mynameisvlad 11y ago
    The advice was never "Don't make public announcements about yourself" it was "When you're telling the employees they're being laid off, don't talk about yourself". There is a very clear difference there. None of the advice talked about what to do or not do during public announcements.
kylec 11y ago
I think it's fine for the blog post to be about the CEO's feelings. I'm assuming that when he actually broke the news to the employees he didn't dwell too much on "you don't know how hard this is for me" and focused on doing right by the people he was laying off.
- protomyth 11y ago
  "I cried and many of them cried. It was emotional for everyone. Some were angry and some were already focused on what to do next." I would lean to believing the other way given this comment, but it is not quite clear from the text.
  - mynameisvlad 11y ago
    Nothing about that indicates one way or the other, really. The whole thing is pretty emotional, moreso in smaller companies where everyone knows eachother and becomes a small family. The fact that he cried along with them really says nothing about how he had given the news.
fossuser 11y ago
Agreed - I think that advice is an empathy thing when dealing with the employees you're laying off. Basically when you're laying someone off there's a natural response to try and talk about how bad you feel having to do it too - maybe to try and relate or bond over a shitty situation? It's an unfortunate natural response though because if you were truly empathizing with them you'd recognize that your feelings in that situation (since you're in the much better position of still having your job) don't make them feel better, but make them feel worse. I'd guess the problem is that comparing your state in any way to there's causes a more negative reaction because they're not in a place where they'd want to empathize with you - the approximate cause of their current lay off. Outside of the interaction with the employees you're laying off (which I imagine is not the intended audience of this post) I think it's okay to talk about how it feels to have to do this. To the employees though, you can really only say that it's a bad situation and you'll do what you can to make it the least bad possible.
zaidf 11y ago
Contrasting view: I really enjoy hearing from this perspective than trying overtly hard to speak for lots of other people. I am glad he made this about himself because when you write a story such as this, it is much more authentic written from your perspective. And your perspective, at the end of the day, is a whole lot of "about yourself."
vacri 11y ago
The article is not the layoff. It's talking about what happened and how the CEO felt, but it wasn't the way the employees got laid off.
savanaly 11y ago
Clearly that advice from yesterday was in regards to the conversation with the laid off employee. Self reflection on your own time is healthy and necessary.
jscheel 11y ago
Regardless of how people feel the post was handled, I appreciate this line: "These last few months have been incredibly painful for me, but at least I didn’t have to worry about how to pay the rent. They did worry about rent. I f* up and my employees paid for it." This is responsibility. No couching of the event in non-blame company-speak. He owns up to that experiment being a failure that it is on his shoulders.

by dewitt 11y ago

cblock811 11y ago

I think it's good to tell yourself "Don't make it about me" but in the end, he was a leader who had to let go of team members. Seems natural that he would feel things over it. It would be like saying "Startups die all the time. Don't make it about yourself." From what I read (and I don't know this person at all) he seems to really own his role as a leader. I noticed is that he took responsibility for strategy though, which is refreshing to read every now and then.

gohrt 11y ago
"Don't make [public announcements] about yourself" is not the same as "Don't care about yourself or your feelings". The audience is relevant.
- mynameisvlad 11y ago
  The advice was never "Don't make public announcements about yourself" it was "When you're telling the employees they're being laid off, don't talk about yourself". There is a very clear difference there. None of the advice talked about what to do or not do during public announcements.

kylec 11y ago

I think it's fine for the blog post to be about the CEO's feelings. I'm assuming that when he actually broke the news to the employees he didn't dwell too much on "you don't know how hard this is for me" and focused on doing right by the people he was laying off.

protomyth 11y ago
"I cried and many of them cried. It was emotional for everyone. Some were angry and some were already focused on what to do next." I would lean to believing the other way given this comment, but it is not quite clear from the text.
- mynameisvlad 11y ago
  Nothing about that indicates one way or the other, really. The whole thing is pretty emotional, moreso in smaller companies where everyone knows eachother and becomes a small family. The fact that he cried along with them really says nothing about how he had given the news.

fossuser 11y ago

Agreed - I think that advice is an empathy thing when dealing with the employees you're laying off. Basically when you're laying someone off there's a natural response to try and talk about how bad you feel having to do it too - maybe to try and relate or bond over a shitty situation? It's an unfortunate natural response though because if you were truly empathizing with them you'd recognize that your feelings in that situation (since you're in the much better position of still having your job) don't make them feel better, but make them feel worse. I'd guess the problem is that comparing your state in any way to there's causes a more negative reaction because they're not in a place where they'd want to empathize with you - the approximate cause of their current lay off. Outside of the interaction with the employees you're laying off (which I imagine is not the intended audience of this post) I think it's okay to talk about how it feels to have to do this. To the employees though, you can really only say that it's a bad situation and you'll do what you can to make it the least bad possible.

zaidf 11y ago

Contrasting view: I really enjoy hearing from this perspective than trying overtly hard to speak for lots of other people. I am glad he made this about himself because when you write a story such as this, it is much more authentic written from your perspective. And your perspective, at the end of the day, is a whole lot of "about yourself."

vacri 11y ago

The article is not the layoff. It's talking about what happened and how the CEO felt, but it wasn't the way the employees got laid off.

savanaly 11y ago

Clearly that advice from yesterday was in regards to the conversation with the laid off employee. Self reflection on your own time is healthy and necessary.

jscheel 11y ago

Regardless of how people feel the post was handled, I appreciate this line: "These last few months have been incredibly painful for me, but at least I didn’t have to worry about how to pay the rent. They did worry about rent. I f* up and my employees paid for it." This is responsibility. No couching of the event in non-blame company-speak. He owns up to that experiment being a failure that it is on his shoulders.