Wes Kao's Newsletter

Wes Kao's Newsletter

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Take 3 minutes to delete these words and improve your writing forever
Before you hit “send,” delete these words from your writing. Your message will be stronger for it.
 • 
Wes Kao
6
Everything takes longer than you think
The problem isn’t that you’re not working fast enough. It’s that your expectations were never realistic to begin with.
 • 
Wes Kao
16
Leaders, stop accidentally scaring your team
"Painting a picture" by being concrete and specific is usually good. But when you're talking about negative ideas, you may want to be abstract and vague…
 • 
Wes Kao
3
When too much CYA backfires
Some operators speak in a way that's overly CYA (cover your ass) as a defensive tactic to prevent getting into trouble if things go wrong. Here's why…
 • 
Wes Kao
8
Good struggle vs bad struggle
Not all struggle leads to personal growth. Learn to distinguish between good struggle vs bad struggle, so you can invest your emotional energy in the…
 • 
Wes Kao
9
People judge the average of your achievements, not the cumulative
Mentioning too many items can actually reduce your overall perceived value.
 • 
Wes Kao
8
What you give airtime to will expand
Successful operators intentionally direct their recipients' attention. Focus less on what you can't do, and more on what you can do.
 • 
Wes Kao
5
Why high performers make assertions: The difference between insights, suggestions, and assertions
An insight is just a starting point. The rare, courageous thing to do is to develop an assertion, i.e. a hypothesis and point of view that answers "so…
 • 
Wes Kao
17
You are wasting your warm intros
Your note sucks because you don't sound sincere. Do these 6 things to make your note more persuasive before you hit send.
 • 
Wes Kao
5
Wes Kao's Newsletter
Wes Kao's Newsletter
A weekly newsletter on managing up, executive communication, and standing out as a high-performer. Written by an a16z-backed founder.

Wes Kao's Newsletter

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