He is a good writer and clearly a thoughtful individual, which further reinforces truth #6 (honesty can hurt you). I subconsciously approached the article with a bit of negative bias around the fact he had been laid off. His writing has more clarity than many successful CEOs though so who knows.
As someone who also writes and thinks a lot, truth #6 applies particularly to us. People REALLY don't want to hear hard truths from people who think about what they are saying. If you are saying something that is less thought out, honesty can be a good policy - after all, they have probably heard whatever you are saying before.
I will say - most people don’t like hearing that. And you’ll certainly not be a hit at parties if that’s your style.
There is a high correlation between specific types of high performer and people who do like (and benefit) from hearing that type of truth though. At least unless it hits too close to home.
> I subconsciously approached the article with a bit of negative bias around the fact he had been laid off. His writing has more clarity than many successful CEOs though so who knows.
That’s because most people get laid off because of no fault of their own. There’s a false idea that people that are laid off are low performers, but the truth of the matter is that more often than not it, it’s entire teams.
Yes, and if you're in the game thru a few downturns, you will be laid off during them a few times in an otherwise successful career. Severance package FTW.
