Opening
Stewart Butterfield (00:00:00): This is 2014. That was the year that Slack actually launched. I was interviewed by MIT Technology Review and asked if we were working to improve Slack. I said, "I feel like what we have right now is just a giant piece of shit. It's just terrible and we should be humiliated that we offer this to the public." Stewart Butterfield (00:00:14): To me that was like, "You should be embarrassed....
The opener starts with biography before advice. That order makes the guest legible as a person before the listener extracts tactics.
Low-ego framing
This is 2014. That was the year that Slack actually launched. I was interviewed by MIT Technology Review and asked if we were working to improve Slack. I said, "I feel like what we have right now...
Uses we/us, uncertainty, or learner framing instead of performing authority.
Accept praise cleanly
on his legendary we don't sell saddles here memo, and so much more. A huge thank you to Noah Weiss, Chris Cordell, Ali Rael, and Johnny Rogers for suggesting topics and questions for this conversation....
Accepts praise without shrinking from it or turning it into a performance.
Low-ego framing
And it became really obnoxious and people would complain about it, but it was, I don't know, I guess tragedy of the commons. It's not quite exactly the same thing, but it was this real dynamic that happened...
Uses we/us, uncertainty, or learner framing instead of performing authority.
Accept praise cleanly
Stewart Butterfield (01:30:04): Yeah. Thank you for...
Accepts praise without shrinking from it or turning it into a performance.
Ending
Lenny Rachitsky (01:29:27): I love that. What's the solution? Is it have other people look at it and give you feedback? Stewart Butterfield (01:29:31): Yeah, and recognize it. And unfortunately, it's one of those things like Murphy's Law. Lenny Rachitsky (01:29:35): Yeah. Stewart Butterfield (01:29:37): Even you can go wrong even when you take into account Murphy's Law. Lenny Rachitsky (01:29:39): That's right....
The ending makes gratitude concrete, which turns warmth into checkable behavior.