Usually You Have One Shot in Communications - Brittany Pietsch Might Have Thought Longer Before Taking that Shot

 It's the ultimate fantasy of those of us who perceive injustice (or just ham-handed management) in the workplace. 

On January 10th, now-former marketing executive at Cloudflare Brittany Pietsch both recorded and posted on social media the Zoom call of her termination by two in HR. During the axing procedure, she refuted their contention that her performance wasn't up to par. Also, as the world was made aware, it was peculiar that the process was handled by those in HR, not a higher-up in her function. How disrespectful. 

Her experience mirrors so many of our own. Working for a living can be brutal and be given the boot even more so. So, we have empathy for Pietsch. But those of us who 1) know even a bit about the law about privacy and 2) need to move on to getting other work size up her behavior as reckless. This does not seem to be not a trust-funder or nepo baby who can afford to take a high-profile stand. She needs income from working. On her LinkedIn profile, she identifies herself as Open For Work.

If Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince decides to take legal action, Pietsch could be in for plenty of legal bills. I have a theory that most of us don't do what Pietsch did because we are downright scared of being sued and know ahead of time we can't afford the lawyer's fees, at least not for long.  

In addition, come on, she probably will encounter doors-slammed-shut as she applies for another job. Trust is so broken. If she pulled that with one employer she could do that with others. 



As an intuitive career coach I would advise Pietsch to leverage this publicity to launch her own marketing boutique. Her signature brand could be willingness to take risks. 

That's something organizations might buy in these highly competitive times. 

Even the usually traditional law-firm sector has taken on risk in their strategies and operations. For instance, Kirkland & Ellis, White and Case and Paul, Weiss are among those betting big money on expensive lateral talent. They need that star power to compete for new business and prevent client churn. That's embedded as a current best practice in the positioning and packaging of a large elite law firm. In a Bloomberg Law interview in 2021, Paul, Weiss chair Brad Karp made that marketing formula explicit. 

UPDATE:

Here is some activity in response to my repurposing this post on LinkedIn:

• 3rd+I help busy professionals never waste PTO again | Book travel without the headache | Corporate Travel Agent | DM me to get started

I think she’ll be making more by the end of
This yr than she ever has. All she did was hold them accountable, and then took them out for lunch about a dozen times thought the call.

It was brilliant, and from the looks of her thread, she’s being courted from all sides.

Companies have power. So do employees, more now than ever.

In most cases you have only one shot in communications. Jane Genova is a communications coach and content-creator. Complimentary consultation (please text 203-468-8579 or email janegenova374@gmail.com)

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