A CEO Says Goodbye (Insider Comms From YouTube)

The authority on mixternal communications

Why do CEOs insist on a lengthy preamble when from the first sentence it is clear they’re announcing that they’re leaving the company? Journalists would say the lede has been buried.

On Feb 16, YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki announced to employees that she is resigning. Despite the obvious set up she tucks the actual announcement four paragraphs deep.

The note would be nicely paired with an internal-only Q&A with Wojcicki, an interview that provides insider-y insight into what Wojcicki learned in her wide-ranging career, what mistakes she made, what she learned from failure, what she would do over again, her greatest accomplishments, advice to young YouTubers, and so on.

• One could even get provocative. How edgy is YouTube’s internal comms? Wouldn’t YouTubers also want to know what it’s like to be one of the few women in the room where decisions are made (my assumption), where YouTube has fallen short in its obligation(?) as a default public square, how the platform’s strategy has been influenced by TikTok and Netflix, YouTube’s greatest shortcomings and biggest competition, among other hard-hitting topics.

Wojcicki does a really nice job of setting up her successor, outlining his experiences and accomplishments, and giving him a springboard from which to jump into the deep end. Overall it’s a good memo—reflective but not too self-congratulatory, with healthy doses of teamwork and “the best is yet to come” executive spirit.

Here’s the note.