It’s a famously awful quote used by Mark Zuckerberg in Facebook’s (now Meta) early days.
Move fast. Break things.
The idea behind it was, allegedly, to spark innovation; to remove obstacles in creativity by giving folks license to make mistakes, to iterate and to charge forward.
This IS critical for innovation. Moving forward, moving quickly, not needing things to be “finished” or “perfect” before launching.
AND as with so many things, taken literally and/or implemented by individuals who are focused on immediate goals rather than long term, this type of practice can have catastrophic impact.
Just look at the devastation wrought by Facebook’s ham-handed approach to “connecting”people. The disintegration of our social fabric. The explosive rise of loneliness, depression and suicide - especially amongst overly digitally saturated teens.
Were the creators and builders of the platform looking down the road, planning for contingencies and possibilities, could this have been avoided? Perhaps. We’ll never know know. We do know at least one Twitter founder who apologized for their ignorance of what they’d built. And so it has gone over the years with folks so focused on creation that they neglected to think about impact.
Trouble is, if you spend too much time on that front, you don’t innovate.
So it’s not really about moving fast and breaking things. It’s about being responsible and cleaning up whatever mess you create.
And that’s what I discuss this week.
In a world where what passes for radical honesty usually means someone is just letting things fly outta their pie-hole without much care for others, it’s time for radically authentic conversation. Conscious communication is simple, but often isn’t easy. That’s why Cathy Brooks created Talk, Unleashed – a weekly podcast of radically honest conversation about — everything. Whether her own musings or in conversation with industry leaders, each episode invites curiosity.
Curiosity not about what people do, but why they do it. Who they are and what makes them tick. It’s about digging underneath to reveal the thing that is most true - that we are more alike than we are not. A mix of solo episodes where Cathy shares her insights and experience or Cathy engaged in conversation with fascinating humans doing amazing things. No matter the format - it’s unvarnished, radically honest and entirely unleashed.
This podcast compliments Unleashed Leadership, the coaching business through which Cathy works with symphony orchestras, corporate clients, and individuals to help them unleash and untether their leadership and connect with others in a way that truly engages.
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