The Importance of Being Plainspoken - by Deb Liu

Several years ago, the Ads and Business Platform leadership at Facebook set out to identify its team values. We debated each of them, but the one that we were stuck on was, “Be Honest.” We struggled with this one during our discussions; we believed that every team should be honest, so what made this a value specific to us? “Who takes the other side of this?” Boz asked us. Then, in a spark of inspiration, Margaret Stewart suggested, “How about, ‘Be Plainspoken’ instead?” We loved it and adopted it. Now, many years later, I only remember a couple of the other values we chose. “Be Plainspoken,” however, stuck with me. I have adopted and shared it with every team I have led since. Being plainspoken is speaking the truth from a place of care and authenticity. It accounts for what is heard, not just what is said. It is about the listener, not the speaker. When you speak plainly, you should do so for those in the audience, not for the one at the podium. All of us have known people who say, “I

Several years ago, the Ads and Business Platform leadership at Facebook set out to identify its team values. We debated each of them, but the one that we were stuck on was, “Be Honest.” We struggled with this one during our discussions; we believed that every team should be honest, so what made this a value specific to us? “Who takes the other side of this?” Boz asked us. Then, in a spark of inspiration, Margaret Stewart suggested, “How about, ‘Be Plainspoken’ instead?” We loved it and adopted it. Now, many years later, I only remember a couple of the other values we chose. “Be Plainspoken,” h