Category: business

Ethical Issues at the Brain of Google: The case of Timnit Gebru

David Viñuales Leave a comment

I started this post in my newsletter last week, but I decided to move it here because of its length. Weeks ago, Timnit Gebru, AI Ethical team co-lead and researcher, ended her collaboration at Google Brain.

As a very summarized version, the story starts when Dr. Timnit Gebru and other colleagues sent a paper for feedback and review, and her manager’s manager, legendary Jeff Dean, and Megan Kacholia (VP of Engineering) orders her to retract it.

After, she sent an unfortunate email asking for help and support to an internal listserv and also asked her higher management to meet some requirements to continue working at the company. Then, she “gets resigned” from Google Brain.

https://twitter.com/timnitGebru/status/1334341991795142667?s=20

It is a terrible … Read the rest!

Crowd activism

Keep business and politics, and social activities separate

David Viñuales Leave a comment

This post is a wrap-up of several excerpts from recent issues of my newsletter. I included articles and reactions to a post that asked to keep business and politics, and social activities separate.

It all started some weeks ago, ending September, when Brian Armstrong, Coinbase co-founder and CEO, published an article at the Coinbase blog about its mission.

As I mentioned in the newsletter, I saw are some similarities with Frank Slootman’s LinkedIn post that I shared in another newsletter.

A mission-focused company statement from Coinbase

The post aims to share the company mission: create an open financial system for the world and achieve success, focusing on that mission, on what unites and not divides, on building a … Read the rest!

Leadership learning from Tony Hsieh

David Viñuales Leave a comment

After 20 years, Tony Hsieh retired from CEO and left Zappos. There is a leadership learning opportunity in analyzing this period. You could find the details in this article. I also included this news section in one of my past newsletter issues.

Since I read his book Delivering Happiness in 2011 (a book that I always recommend), I’ve been interested in Tony and the multiple learnings from his career. I also wrote a post in my blog about him and his previous entrepreneurship.

Zappos is very well known for its culture and core values, and its wow customer service. Hsieh’s effort building and growing them will no doubt leave a lasting impression.

Company Culture and Core Values

… Read the rest!
Q&A

Company Town Hall meetings: Communicating is caring

David Viñuales Leave a comment

Company Town hall meetings, all-hands meetings, q&a meetings or sessions, are defined as a way that the management of a company has to meet and connect with their employees. A member of upper management (CEO, board member, or a country/regional manager) usually hosts these meetings that are attended by all employees, or in these times as video conferences.

Topics may vary depending on what’s going on in the company. They usually share the status of the company and the most relevant issues at the moment, and there’s a Q&A section at the end where employees can ask could find answers to topics that are interested or worried about.

All hands meeting

This post was born by an interesting twitter question (or thread) started … Read the rest!

Disruptive Innovation. What it is, and what it is not.

David Viñuales Leave a comment

This is the continuation of an earlier post about Clayton Christensen and “How will you measure your life”. I decided to split the original post because, in my opinion, both works How will you measure your life and disruptive innovation, deserved an individual post.

If you never heard about him, or you heard but you don’t know much, I recommend you to look for him and his articles on Harvard Business Review. Clayton Christensen is considered one of the most influential business thinkers, and earned several awards and recognitions.

“Disruptive innovation” is the concept linked to his career. He first published about it in the article Disruptive Technologies: Catching the Wave, which was the seed of his … Read the rest!