Slack’s slippery slope, the sweet science of business writing, and more

Greetings, communicators!

We hope you enjoy this batch of stories that offer takeaways for communicators of all stripes. Here’s what grabbed our attention for the week of July 19 – July 23, 2021.

1. Is it safe to gripe on Slack?

Apparently not! As The Hollywood Reporter shares, Netflix canned three senior staffers for carping about the company’s top marketing execs on the workplace chat app.

THR explains the decision was not necessarily due to inflammatory content, but more of an attempt to comport with its culture and core values:

“The episode is a window into Netflix’s unusual culture, which calls for radical transparency. Under the heading ‘Real Values’ on its job website is an entry reading, ‘You only say things about fellow employees that you say to their face.’”

In any case, the fired workers erroneously assumed their venting was in a “private” forum. Turns out there is no such thing on today’s snoopy comms environment. (You can read loads of hot takes on this incident here if you’re so inclined.)