Nick Clegg & Kang-Xing Jin ·Meta Platforms, Inc. ·27 AUG 2021
Regulatory Pressure Is a Budget Argument
When your policy team is writing your product roadmap, you've already lost the timing war.
Topic
Crisis Management
What gets written when the building is on fire.
19 letters · most recent first
Margaret Stewart & Mark Zuckerberg & Sue Young & Nick Clegg & Monika Bickert & Naomi Gleit & Andy O'Connell ·Meta/Facebook ·12 MAY 2020
The Burden-of-Proof Trap in Product Decisions
When you require proof of harm before acting, you've already decided in favor of the risk.
Karina Newton & Monika Bickert & Elisabeth Diana ·Meta/Instagram ·10 OCT 2019
When You Can't Defend Your Product, Stop Selling It
The moment your own team says 'we are in a very bad place defending this,' that's not a PR problem — it's a product problem.
Raymond Endres & Alex Schultz & Javier Olivan ·Meta/Facebook ·22 FEB 2014
When Winning Removes Your Team's Reason to Fight
If you build a team's identity around beating a rival, buying that rival creates a morale crisis, not a celebration.
Sam Bankman-Fried & Ryan Pinder & Daniel Friedberg ·FTX Trading Ltd. ·10 NOV 2022
In a Crisis, Pick One Audience And Protect Them First
When you can't save everyone, be honest about who you're choosing to save first — and expect the rest to notice.
Boeing engineering staff ·Boeing ·14 DEC 2015
When Engineers Ask 'Are We Vulnerable?' and Nobody Stops the Clock
The most dangerous moment in any engineering process is when a serious risk question gets answered with another question.
Anthony Levandowski & Suzy Sammons ·Uber ·28 MAR 2017
How to Split Message Control When Two Crises Hit at Once
When two fires break out at once, the fastest move is to assign one firefighter to each — and make the split explicit before the meeting starts.
Travis Kalanick & David Drummond ·Uber / Google ·7 MAR 2015
When Your Partner Stops Taking Meetings, Believe the Silence
A calendar tells you more about a partnership than any press release ever will.
Michael Rapino & David Marcus & Tara Traub & Mark Yovich & Michael Wichser ·Live Nation Entertainment / Ticketmaster ·22 AUG 2022
When a Customer Calls Your Fee Structure a Problem, Listen Fast
The moment a client's manager whispers 'double dipping,' you have minutes to build a clear answer — or you have a narrative crisis.
Dario Amodei & Emil Michael ·Anthropic ·26 FEB 2026
How to Walk Away Without Burning the Bridge
When the other side rewrites your redlines into meaningless words, name the trick precisely — then keep the door open.
Michal D. Cann & John L. (Jack) Wagner ·WASHINGTON BANKING CO ·21 AUG 2008
Walk Away Early: When a Bad Deal Protects Your Moat
Knowing when to kill a deal is as valuable as knowing when to sign one.
Steven E. Fass & David T. Foy ·White Mountains Insurance Group Ltd ·10 APR 2006
When Your Models Fail, Own It Fast
Risk models are tools, not oracles — and the leaders who survive bad years are the ones who say so out loud.
DSP Group Board of Directors ·DSP Group Inc ·11 MAR 2013
When a 10% Shareholder Wants to Run Your Company
Control of the boardroom is control of strategy — and some investors know exactly how to take it one committee at a time.
Richard McCathron ·Hippo Holdings Inc. ·10 NOV 2022
Design Your Exposure Before the Disaster Hits
The best risk management happens months before the storm, not during it.
Richard McCathron ·Hippo Holdings Inc. ·7 MAY 2025
How to Shrink a Portfolio Before You Grow It
The best time to expand is right after you've finished cutting — not before.
Warren Buffett ·Berkshire Hathaway ·1 MAR 2010
Hold Expensive Cash So You Can Be the Buyer in a Crisis
Liquidity is a strategic weapon disguised as a boring balance sheet item — its real return shows up only when everyone else runs out.
Reed Hastings ·Netflix ·18 SEP 2011
The Hastings Apology Is the Cleanest Public Wound-Closing in Modern CEO Communication
Five words. No throat-clearing. No qualifier. The apology arrives before the explanation, which is the only order that ever works.
Warren Buffett ·Berkshire Hathaway, Inc. ·27 FEB 2009
Buffett's 2008 Letter Spends Three Pages Telling Shareholders What He Got Wrong
Buffett doesn't apologize for the loss. He apologizes for the analysis. Those are different things and most CEOs conflate them.
Travis Kalanick ·Uber ·22 OCT 2013
The Kalanick Miami Memo Is What Happens When a Leader Writes Like the Email Is Private
The memo's existence is more instructive than its contents. The contents are the symptom; the existence is the diagnosis.