A Tale of Two Layoffs
Twitter vs. Stripe
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way—in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.”
— Charles Dickens, 1859
If there was any question that we’re living in Dickensian times, two communications this week should put that to rest.
I’m referring to the letters that went out to employees at Twitter and Stripe, who both had significant layoffs — Stripe letting go of 14 percent of its staff and Twitter getting rid of about half of its employees.
Layoffs are never easy. They’re not easy for the leaders who need to make the decision — because typically it’s the last resort for most companies — nor are they easy for those whose lives are upended, with uncertain futures in uncertain times.
The two communications about these layoffs couldn’t be further apart in their styles and approach. And they say a great deal about the leaders running these companies.
Stripe Owns It
First, we have Stripe, the payment processing firm that’s integrated with many online and ecommerce entities. They laid off 14 percent of their staff because they made a miscalculation about how much online commerce would grow and they overinvested.
