5 Tweet Tuesday - no freaking way.

have you seen this video yet?

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The CEO of Better.com laying off 900 employees on a zoom in the most cringe way possible.

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I had to record a reaction video. I couldn't let this slide by my desk without roasting him.

comments on youtube...

OK jokes aside - what can we learn from this?
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Can I really just shit on him for messing up...and not say how I would do it differently?
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See that's the difference between me and your average internet troll.
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We'll both roast you from the sidelines... BUT - I'll also try to come up with a solution.
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So here's my 5 Non-Negotiable Rules for "That Shitty Day" (doing layoffs)
​1. Don't Beat Around The Bush​
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It's tempting to start with small talk, or beat around the bush. Don't do it.
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The news needs to be delivered clearly in the first 1-3 sentences you say. Any delay makes it much worse for the employee when you finally do muster up the courage to say it.
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2. It's Your Fault, Not Theirs

Here's what he should have said instead:
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"The company failed to hit its goals. That's on me."
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"We badly missed our goals, and the result is that we need to layoff excellent people today. I am sorry this has happened. It's not your fault, it's mine and the leadership team's fault. We failed in this phase and put ourselves in this position."

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3.Have a Clear, Helpful Transition Plan​
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Have all the details ready, and be as generous as you can about how you let them go. Give great severance and health benefits.
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Create a team to help them get hired in their next job.

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4. Be A Human​
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Walk to their desk and help them pack up their belongings and thank them for their time at the company.

They will remember every detail about this day, so even though you wanna just go eat a tub of ice cream in a closet somewhere - this is not the time to hide.

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5. Rebuild Trust​
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Remember that the message isn't ONLY for those who leave. It's for those who stay too.

As a CEO, you're basically saying "trust me, we got this" over and over again.

And today you broke that trust and showed you didn't "got this".

So you have to rebuild that trust. The people staying are losing friends and colleagues and going to have their mom ask them about the layoffs they heard about on the news.

You need to stand in front of them and say "This was horrible, this was my fault, this will never happen again. For those who are here, we will right the ship".