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Facebook CIO Discusses Zuckerberg's "Will You Resign?" Email
CarlaRudder writes: When Mark Zuckerberg sends an email with the subject line, "Will you resign?" people remember it. In this case, the email went to the entire company after someone leaked damaging information, but CIO Tim Campos talks about his hesitation to open the email, thinking it was addressed to him personally. He goes on to share an insider's perspective on the power of culture at Facebook, the benefits of giving employees time and space to both fail and create, and why data is at the core of every decision made in the company.
There have been times in my life when I'd happily reply to that email.
Zuckerberg went on to write that the employee obviously didn’t share the same values of openness and transparency because they shared the confidential information in a way they were asked not to do.
"First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
I asked that once of the Director. It was a blatent request.
He refused. "Nope."
Left me stuck with an impossible job. Fortunately, things worked themselves out.
Nowadays, he comes around and pesters me. I want to fire him, but can't, because he's retired. Maybe I should resign.
1) The Power of Culture: "At Facebook, culture is everything and it's an incredible timesaver," Campos said. Culture allows Facebook to cut through bureaucracy, he said. Among the ways Facebook emphasizes its culture is through its now well-known posters that say things like: "Fail harder;" "Move fast and break things;" and, "What would you do if you weren't afraid?"
Facebook also reinforces its culture through storytelling, like the "will you resign" email example he shared with the audience. "It was an incredibly powerful message," Campos explained. "Everybody at the company read this email and had the exact same takeaway and perspective that I did, they all thought it was immediately addressed to them. And it was striking as a result of that. And they never forgot it. And we keep talking about it - we talk about how do we handle confidential information in the company. The 'will you resign' email is quite famous." There are a ton of stories like this that Facebook uses to reinforce key culture points that prevent the creation of unnecessary steering committees and advisory boards, Campos said.
Posters he's describing are pure propaganda, all basically shouting "WORK HARDER AND MORE!", while those mass "Your job is insecure" emails are nothing but mobbing.
If that's culture, it's nothing but culture of fear.
Ah well... someone has to keep getting stress-related heart attacks, strokes and cancers I guess.
Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens
I only read the summary.
My thought was that "but CIO Tim Campos talks about his hesitation to open the email, thinking it was addressed to him personally." is says a lot about the company culture.
If I saw an e-mail from my boss with the subject line "Will you resign?" my first thought would be why he is worrying about that and that I'd have to reassure him that I'll keep working for a couple of more years.
If the CIO looks at that subject with dread and feels that it is likely that he would be asked to leave like that without any prior discussions about performance or value to the company then the company as whole has serious problems.
How can a company work properly if there is so much fear and distrust at that level? My guess is that it doesn't.
The takeaway from this story is that Facebook uses email for the important stuff, not Facebook messages.
If the CIO, a rather high ranking C-Suite officer, is afraid to open a mail from his CEO talking about resignation, something is amiss. If a C-Level pretty much expects to be laid off by email instead of a more personal way of communication something is VERY, VERY wrong in a company.
Don't get me wrong, being laid off by email is common for lower ranks in huge, "faceless" corporations. I never experienced it on this level, though. We're talking about a handful of people per company. It's not like there are a dozen CIOs littering the top floor. Even a company like Facebook will hardly employ hundreds of C-Levels. These people KNOW each other. Personally. They have meetings. They organize and coordinate strategies. Depending on the company they even know each other on a rather personal level, down to their family status and whether the kids have the flu.
If such a person expects to be fired by email, this does not speak kindly of the prevailing corporate culture.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
If you have a group of people, and one of them does something wrong, you address the issue with the person who did something wrong. If you send an e-mail out to the entire group, then the person who did something wrong will think it is directed at someone else, and everyone else will think it is directed at them. This is one of the very first things you learn as a manager. You absolutely do not reprimand by group. You reprimand individually. You praise publicly. If you can't understand that, or disagree, then you need to be removed from your position of authority.
If you are not allowed to question your government then the government has answered your question.