Jack Dorsey's 6,000-person layoff wasn't about AI, but over-hiring and stock-price chasing. Real leadership means telling employees what AI actually can't do yet, then listening to the people on the ground who are already experimenting with it.
You see the headlines, you know, Jack Dorsey lays off 6,000 people because AI can do the job of them. And a lot of companies that are making these massive layoffs, the headline is the same. AI is going to replace them. Absolute nonsense, right? AI is not at the position to replace 6,000 people in our companies anymore. It's just not. What happened was, what happened was they overhired and they don't want to go to Wall Street and say, Sorry, that was on me because the stock price will go down.
And so is that your best impersonation of the executives after all the work you've done with them? Yeah. It's like, it's like time to change my voice. Yeah.
This very serious executive voice. And instead they sound like they're, you know, hip with the future. By saying, "No, no, no, AI can do it," and their stock price goes up, and they're making short-term decisions for the value of the stock. But what they don't realize that they're doing is they're creating a narrative that is creating anxiety in the workforce, where no joke, AI right now is less popular than the war in Iran. Okay, that is their doing, and if they're getting pushback on a technology that is actually valuable and good, it's because they're short-term thinkers. And so, and you touched upon that, being honest, being transparent. Being transparent doesn't mean telling everybody everything. Being transparent means giving people context. And in a time of uncertainty, it's very good for leaders to say, this technology is amazing. I don't fully understand it myself. I'm looking for people in the company who, like, we all have people in our companies who are like really love this stuff and they're reading every article and they're downloading every app and they're trying everything. Why aren't you asking those people for advice? I get some of the— I learned about what— how to use AI from asking the guy on my team who like is obsessed with it. And I ask him, should I use this or should I not use this? Is this good for this or is this good for that? And I'm learning and we're very open. And as I think every company has to be saying, We're trying things out, but most importantly, we're going to ask the people who are going to use the technology for their advice. The people at the top have all the authority and none of the information, and the people who are on the front line doing the work have all the information and none of the authority. And what we have to do is let the people who are going to use the technology advise us, give us some input on the best way to use it.
Thank you.
AI Won't Tell You the Full Truth | Arthur Brooks + Simon Sinek | A Bit of Optimism Podcast
How To Make the Best Decision | Arthur Brooks and Simon Sinek | A Bit of Optimism
