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- Never Waste A Crisis
This post was inspired by this tweet by Greg Brockman (co-founder and president of OpenAI).
First week back at work complete — 52 team meetings & 1:1s so far.
Biggest takeaway is that people across every single function are united in their thinking. Renewed focus & energy, desire to figure out what they can uniquely do to further the mission.
We are back stronger.
— Greg Brockman (@gdb)
8:40 PM • Dec 2, 2023
In case you were off the grid at that time (if so, good for you!), OpenAI went through a major crisis a few weeks ago whereby Sam Altman (founder/CEO) was let go by the OpenAI board — but ultimately rehired after strong pushback from the OpenAI team (a majority of whom signed a letter threatening to quit if Sam was not reinstated).
Never Waste A Crisis
There’s a quote that Brian Halligan (my co-founder at HubSpot) and I use all the time. Well, maybe not all the time — but all the times we’re going through a major crisis.
Never let a good crisis go to waste.
I like to simplify it to “Never waste a crisis”. (Simpler, better).
Every time we’ve had a major crisis at HubSpot, we take a step back and think through not just how we’re going to survive the crisis — but what lessons might we might draw, and what can we do with it? How can we use it to get better?
That’s what Greg and team have done at OpenAI. They rose through the chaos and emerged stronger.
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