C_NCENTRATE #576: Mind-reading tech, Americans 'meh' on VR, Facebook woe, cancer tech and more...
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FACEBOOK SENIOR TEAM, NOT HAPPY BUNNIES
Tongues were wagging this week after ‘An Ugly Truth’ excerpt, the new exposé written by the New York Times reporters Sheera Frenkel and Cecilia Kang, hit reviewers grubby hands. Revelations came thick and fast, the biggest of which showed a rift between Le Zuck and Le Sandberg. Quel surprise!, these two don’t see eye to wallet. +400 interviews on and there’s little meat on the ‘Facebook is bad’ carcass that could possibly shock, but ‘we’ always thought Zuck-berg were a solid team. Turns out all is not well at the top.
The excerpt also talks about a key issue that is holding Facebook back; employees talking truth to power. The bad news is withheld from leaders because of the pressures that money and metrics have for Facebook mean nothing will change. Not only is that bad for the product, but it’s also bad for the staff.
“The two executives appear to blame each other for Facebook’s problems. Sandberg, with a reputation as a master communicator, disappoints Zuckerberg by failing to smooth over perceptions of Facebook in public and with regulators. Zuckerberg, meanwhile, makes policy decisions that Sandberg disagrees with, but doesn’t say so out of fear Zuckerberg will find her disloyal. Instead, she confides in friends about how difficult it is to change his mind.”
The book talks about the obvious things (Trump, ads etc), but also goes into detail on an allegedly sexist culture and what the personality traits of leaders mean about the business. A dicey thing to do because vilification doesn't serve people well and oversimplifications are easy to misinterpret and misattribute. Perhaps Professor David Carroll (Parsons Design / ‘The Great Hack’ Documentary) says it best’ “Why is Facebook a malign force? Likely because it is a dangerously defective product controlled by deeply flawed humans.” Ultimately, The Zuck owns 51% and controls the ship, so if things are wrong, he’s got the power to fix it…but isn’t.
SO WHAT?
__ DO __ Expect nothing to change because of the book in and of itself. The bigger picture/issue here is that employees are talking, and while we know Facebook has a ton of issues, the impact of not doing anything about them is weighing on the minds of more than one employee. Expect further whistleblowing and butt-covering. // __ DON'T __ Give up hope, books like this serve multiple purposes, the least of which is making it easy to see everything in one go, something Congress and other federal organisations will likely use to their advantage for PR and other uses.
NOTE: Mouthwash Season Two is all about POWER! We’ve another full week of guests from Brad Stone (Author of Jeff Bezos/Amazon bestseller), a Kung-Fu Master, Adah Parris (TED Fellow, Futurist) and HubSpot’s talking about community. Tune-in live on Twitter Spaces 8pm BST / 3pm EST / 12pm PST. Find out more here.
THIS ISSUE OF C_NCENTRATE IS FREE THANKS TO WAYDEV
Waydev helps software engineering leaders gain complete visibility of their teams with a data-driven story of key business initiatives.
Dating apps are increasingly being used to start plutonic friendships. > [5 mins]
TikTok is testing point of upload for deletion of questionable content. > [4 mins]
Why you are so anxious about going back to the office. > [5 mins]
Genius. How astronomy image analysis tools are helping cancer patients. > [4 mins]
The future of fashion might just be magnets. > [1 min]
Why we need to regulate mind-reading technology before it exists. > [3 mins]
Why we buy so much stuff - a new take. > [8 mins]
MUST READ: ‘Mad Men. Furious Women’ - Zoe Scamen rightly set the internet alight with this piece. > [9 mins]
Why Gen-Z falls for misinformation more than others (and what it means for the future). > [5 mins]
Just 25% of Americans have tried VR, 21% are not at all excited.... [3 mins]