Wes Kao
Co-founder of Maven, the cohort-based course platform, and of Seth Godin's altMBA; writes a weekly newsletter on communication and leadership.
Wes Kao did not write this page.
We collected these quotes from things they published elsewhere, and every quote links to where it was said. They have no account here and have not endorsed this site. Quotes are word for word; the short line under each one is our own restatement, not their wording. Their own site. Is this you? Claim it or ask us to remove it. Or tell us what is wrong here.
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Their wordsEmployees used to swim in their own lane. That doesn’t work anymore.
- 6 weeks earlier
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Our reading
People naturally optimize for "not getting into trouble" rather than for "figuring out the truth".
Their wordsIt’s a natural human tendency to optimize for “not getting into trouble” rather than “figuring out the truth.”
↗Defensible, but not goodnewsletter.weskao.com 1st of 2 in this piece
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Their wordsI believe it provides a false sense of security to wait for obvious signs that something is wrong before you wonder if something is wrong.
↗Defensible, but not goodnewsletter.weskao.com 2nd of 2 in this piece
- 3 months earlier
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Their wordsIf you speak in negatives, your recipient has to take an extra mental step.
↗Speak in the affirmative: "Do this" versus "Don't do that"newsletter.weskao.com
- 3 months earlier
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Our reading
Vague urgency words like "ASAP" or "priority" can do real harm when used without context.
Their wordsVague language can have a large (negative) blast radius when used haphazardly.
↗Avoid “ASAP” and other high-strung, non-specific wordsnewsletter.weskao.com 1st of 2 in this piece
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Their wordsI always say that “over-communicating” is usually the right amount of communication.
↗Avoid “ASAP” and other high-strung, non-specific wordsnewsletter.weskao.com 2nd of 2 in this piece
- 2 months earlier
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Our reading
Many people are not actually sure what their goal is before they jump into a conversation.
Their wordsThis is key, because I believe many of us are not actually sure what our goal is before we jump into action.
↗[Fundamentals] Strategy, not self-expressionnewsletter.weskao.com