X CEO Linda Yaccarino: Why She Could Be Playing It All Wrong (and why I know so much about these things)

 X, which used to be known as Twitter, celebrated its first anniversary this month. CEO Linda Yaccarino toasted that with a gush blog post that things were ducky fine, especially with the return of advertisers. She puts that number during Q3 at 1,700.

BEYOND THE GUSH (including in general)

However, Insider reports different numbers:

" ... data from marketing consultancy Ebiquity, which was shared with Insider, suggested that most big advertisers have stopped spending on X. The company works with 70 of the top 100 advertisers, only 2 of which advertised on X last month, the data found."

ASSESSED AS NOT MAKING THE POINT

This is the second time that Yaccarino is assessed as not making her point. The first was last month at the Code Conference. Her performance was so much on the defense and she seemed to know it that she eliminated Q&A, which is standard in that setting.

Given that how the CEO sizes up things at X isn't perceived as credible it's possible that her shelf life is short. What value is she creating for the business?

FEAR AS COUNTERPRODUCTIVE TO 1) PERFORMANCE, 2) HOW “THEY” TREAT YOU

As a coach my hunch is that all this "trouble" may be happening because the fundamental: Yaccarino fears her employer Elon Musk. From the biography "Elon Musk" we know that he can be a very difficult employer. Therefore, she could be violating her own sense of what is effective in communications and dishing what she assumes or has been told is what the employer wants. Also, the fear could be providing “permission” to Musk to treat her however he deems to be okay.

As a communications professional I also have experience in the trenches with this sort of thing: How fear can be such a counterproductive force in a career. To play the game well it has to be managed. If that doesn't seem possible, that particular game is not for you.

BEWARE CURSE OF CODEPENDENCY

My fear was born of extreme admiration for the wealth, prestige, power and influence of the law firm Paul Weiss. Canceled out was my sense of a professional self. Psychologists label that condition “codependency.” In blogging, for example, I did do my share of gush when analyzing its strategies and performance.

No, not always. For example, I dug into the mystery of why Wiki hacker Matteo Godi was not fired as an associate at Paul Weiss after the outing of that scandal by Politico. And, get this, Godi continued to be employed at that law firm and, as of this date, is still there. I also chronicled the downfall of one-time Paul Weiss client Leon Black.

Since Paul Weiss retrieves all online mentions of it it was aware of the gush as well as when I threw shade. Eventually, after my lobbying the firm for assignments, I was offered a contract retainer for communications work - all with a disclaimer, of course, that this was a paid relationship. By the time that happened adulation had hardened into fear. Never go into anything positioned and packaged like that. You have no leverage. You got it: I played it so wrong and would pay a hefty non-financial price.

GIVING ALL YOUR POWER OVER TO THOSE SIGNING A PAYCHECK

For the two months before I pulled the plug on that lucrative arrangement I received from Paul Weiss CMO Luke Ferrandino:

No real work. To simulate a work product, I scrambled to dig up topics to blog about. That was tough since, no, I am not a lawyer.

No contract specifying my duties. I actually wondered why I had been hired.

No contract specifying a time frame for contract employment. Should I be hunting for a lot of other work from both professional services businesses and from industry?

No NDA making explicit what I could disclose and not disclose. Since I often wear the journalist hat that might be interpreted as reckless by a law firm. Quite odd too since the party contracting with not any Mom & Pop enterprise.

No metrics for assessing my performance. I tap danced on the rim of fear wondering if I would enter the shameful state of being given the boot because of my performance. In a sense that was from Kafka novel since there was no work. Obviously, with that lack of reality power was so unequal. No, let me reframe that: I lacked the power of my work to stand up to the law firm’s power.

In short, I conclude that I was treated as I signaled to the them how they could treat me.

OPTION TO PLAY THE WALKING AWAY CARD

What I hammer for coaching clients is this: Some fear is natural and necessary. But if that mutates into a preoccupation, back off. The job or assignment is not for you. In the mystical Tarot there is actually a Walking Away card.

Data or the gut for your careers and communications? Both of course. Complimentary consultation with intuitive coach, content-creator, and Tarot reader Jane Genova (text 203-468-8579, janegenova374@gmail.com).