Daniel Lyons (2)Críticas

Few months ago, I read Chaos Monkeys, a scathing but a hilarious insider account on Facebook. It was written by a product manager, Antonio García Martínez. As a fellow product manager and as a snacker on content everything related to Facebook & Mark Zuckerberg, I thoroughly loved the witty at same time an optimistic critique on ad-tech companies and social media companies by Antonio.

I chanced upon, Disrupted by Dan Lyons, in a Kara Swisher's podcast. I loved this book. It is rip-roaringly hilarious, acerbic and brings down all the holy cows of the SaaS startup world. Yes, the tone of the writer is pessimistic and sometimes it borders lament. But it so very well written and an awesome experience to listen to the book in author's voice.

The book is about Dan's experience in working for HubSpot. It is a company that is revered in my work circle. I laughed out so loud during my commute on many instances on his snarky sarcastic comments. No one is spared. Dan makes fun of HubSpot's CEO and its CTO. He takes huge dig at Salesforce.com's Marc Benioff and my hero, Marc Andreessen. His take on HubSpot's CMO (Cranium - Mike Volpe), Mike's report (Wingman) and Dan's boss (Trotsky) are extremely funny and very enjoyable.

The chapter were he describes on how he gets fired from Newsweek was so moving and so scary. The travails he endured in dealing with Trotsky, his boss was also very gut-wrenching in many aspects. It was very, very well written and I could really empathise with him.

Sure, he really criticizes the Silicon Valley's ethos and ways of building things. I get a feeling that sometimes its a world view problem of people coming from a different (media, journalism) world and not getting the basic understand (insistence of make profit as a key and sound parameter for a business and many other such quirks). He dresses down and harshly criticizes Marc Andreessen and a16z's media content. I am not here to judge and pass comments on his opinions. But its damn interesting and funny to read his views. It is really good.

Highly recommend it for people interested in hearing an outsider's view into the startup world.

As an introvert I'm not the typical person this book was written for. But I thought it would be interesting from the opposite point of view. Even if you're not a "talkaholic" as the author describes himself, there's plenty of food for thought here, from disconnecting from the noise of social media to the importance of really listening to someone else. Lyons is a tech writer, not a science writer, and though he peppers his chapters with quotes from scientific research, some of his leaps and assumptions make me wish his editors had remembered that correlation is not causation. But this is a quibble. Overall, this is a quick and engaging read and I hope the people who need it most take advantage of the author's advice. It would be a less aggravating world if so.

“STFU: The Power of Keeping Your Mouth Shut in an Endlessly Noisy World” by Dan Lyons has some promising ideas and has the intriguing premise of helping people (and particularly overtalkers) master the art of keeping quiet. Lyons, who identifies himself as an overtalker and describes how this has led to personal and professional problems, maintains that silence is not only golden but is also powerful. To emphasize his point, he uses personal anecdotes and references (mostly from websites and popular publications) to demonstrate how talking less can help our health, work, and relationships. His advice on how to STFU includes limiting use of social media, surreptitiously timing how long we talk in conversations, and embracing the “stiff upper lip” approach used by the late Queen Elizabeth II.

While the book has an undeniably provocative title and concept, it disappoints in terms of the execution. As other reviewers have noted, it is ironically too long. Ideas repeat themselves, and some of the chapters languish due to length (the first four chapters could have been condensed and combined). As mentioned above, Lyons uses a lot of examples and references to support his points, but they do not always seem necessary. These examples also do not always offer readers the best or most applicable advice. For instance, he opens the chapter “STFU is Power” with an example of how Anna Wintour and Jeff Bezos wield their power through silence and use terseness like a cudgel to inspire fear in their employees. The problem with this example is twofold. The first issue is that most of us do not have the reputation or power of Wintour or Bezos, thus making our silence less intimidating. The second (and bigger) issue is that leading through fear and intimidation does not seem like a way to create a healthy workplace. Other questionable advice includes “don’t be afraid to bail” (p.116) on a big meeting, and Lyons goes so far as to quote Elon Musk, who says “Walk out of a meeting or drop off a call as soon as it is obvious you aren’t adding value… It is not rude to leave, it is rude to make someone stay and waste their time” (p.116). Besides the fact that Musk is not exactly known for keeping his mouth shut or for being a reasonable person, we also do not have the power or professional clout to be able to walk out of a meeting without repercussions.

Despite my complaints, there are some valuable ideas in “STFU.” I appreciated some of the different suggestions that Lyons includes, such as using the WAIT test before speaking up. He also has some good communication techniques, like asking questions or just listening to others when they are complaining (as opposed to jumping in with advice). If “STFU” had been more consistent in synthesizing silence with empathy, as it does in the “STFU at Home” chapter, it could have been far more convincing.½

...

...oh sorry I was “shutting the f*** up.”

There is no doubt a nugget of truth to what the author says, that we need to talk less and listen more, but that is nothing new. Epictetus said, “We have two ears and one mouth so that we can listen twice as much as we speak.”

The material was repetitive, and Lyons, despite saying he has worked on changing, still continues to blurt out things even in this book that perhaps were not in his best interest to do so. There are several reviews that make mention of this, and how off-putting those remarks are.

I did enjoy his humor at times, but this book comes across exactly as he describes himself – a talkaholic.

STFU is all about the art of silence. As somebody prone to talking a lot, this book piqued my interest. I am cautious about a book that asks people to STFU, as a woman who is frequently silenced in many ways. I think the author does a good job pointing out how men tend to talk over and interrupt women constantly, but I don't think he considered the impact of asking women to STFU when we are already so frequently expected to do so.

Many of the points in this book are things likely to already be on your radar (especially if you're a surly elder millennial or older): stop spending so much time on social media, learn how to spend time bored, don't feel like you need to broadcast your every thought and opinion to the entire universe. I mean, I don't disagree with those things. I don't know if we really need to be adding to that chorus, and if a book suggesting that we STFU is really going to correct the structural issues that are causing so many people to spend their lives sucked into the black hole of social media.

I don't know... the book was an easy read, and I don't disagree with any of the author's main points. I guess there's just irony in the author feeling like he needs to write an entire book about shutting the F up, and spending much of it in discussions about his own life. (As he mentions more than once, he tends to overtalk.)

We live in an especially noisy age, and journalist Dan Lyons has had enough. In the first two sentences of this book, appropriately titled STFU, he doesn’t beat around the bush; he asks that you, the reader, kindly shut the fuck up. In this easy-reading social-science book, Lyons argues that our quality of life would improve and we’d be happier if we resisted what he calls “overtalking.”

STFU is about more than shutting up, though. The problem of overtalking segues naturally into the problem of listening poorly, so this book also confronts that. Most people, even those who think they do, don’t absorb what others say. It’s unfortunate that so many people know the hurt of having some key thing about them or their lives forgotten, sometimes multiple times. Maybe we shouldn’t assume that the forgetting of people’s names is normal and inevitable. Fortunately, because poor listening and overtalking tend to go hand-in-hand, if one is managed, management of the other follows more easily.

The concept of being quiet and listening might seem straightforward. Isn’t it simply: Just don’t open your mouth? The answer is definitely a no. The problem is complex because overtalking and noise touch all parts of life. In conversation, most of us can’t wait two beats before saying our piece. We’re self-centered and talk too much about ourselves. Lyons laments that we overtalk at home, in relationships, and at work. Our environment is sensory overload. Background music is inescapable. Screens accost us wherever we look, at gyms, on car dashboards and subways, in elevators--even in chair lifts and gondolas at ski areas. There are more movies and shows than we could ever hope to watch. Our world is severely deprived of silence.

But Lyons shows he’s a realist by recognizing that, unfortunately, our world isn’t going to get quieter. He knows mastering shutting up and listening actively is really difficult. In the beginning, it requires a commitment to act better and a constant, conscious effort. Unfortunately, depending on the person (such as those with untreated ADHD), that commitment and effort may be forever necessary.

Lyons’s thesis makes a lot of sense, and each chapter enlightens. However, he has some blind spots. Controversially, he disagrees with talk therapy for marriages in trouble. An admitted overtalker, Lyons saw several marriage counselors with his exasperated wife and found doing so a waste of time. He explains that his marriage improved only when he stopped talking so much. Therefore, in his opinion, this is the winning strategy for all strained marriages, not counseling in which partners talk it out. Lyons embraces Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s advice to “be a little deaf” in marriage and extends that to also being mute. This isn’t an incorrect philosophy--plenty of smaller things are better left unsaid and ignored; listening well only ever strengthens relationships--it’s the speaking in absolutes, the blanket dismissal based solely on his personal experience that’s incorrect. As a counterpoint, he devotes page time to the work of psychologist John Gottman--a fervent advocate of talking it out in marriage counseling--but it’s odd that Lyons could familiarize himself with Gottman’s compelling research yet remain so stubborn in his wildly biased personal opinion.

Later, in a section that seems to exist mainly so he can vent, Lyons praises the stiff upper lip of Queen Elizabeth. His point is that a silent and impassive leader is a powerful leader. In his view, quietly stripping Andrew of his title and settling the lawsuit against him without comment says more than an official statement. Regarding those royals who’ve publicly criticized the monarchy, Lyons doesn’t consider that the motivation behind criticism can be to inspire change. To him, it’s the worst kind of “overtalking”: airing of dirty laundry, “spewing opinions,” and “whining.” Without a doubt, silence is a powerful strategy for leaders and anyone in the public eye, and more need to use it. But it can be done to a fault, and in some cases, remaining silent only guards a secret that allows dysfunction to persist. I argue that there’s power in silence that’s wielded carefully. A shrewd leader recognizes when it’s prudent to comment and when it’s prudent to stay silent.

Basically, Lyons tends toward black-and-white thinking on this topic: You can never shut up enough or for too long. This raises the question of whether he’s ever interacted with a bad conversationalist. Or understands the concepts of balance and moderation. I’m surprised he didn’t acknowledge the importance of maintaining a healthy back-and-forth in conversation so it feels satisfying and substantial. As with silence in leadership, Lyons doesn’t think about how shutting up in conversation can be done to a fault.

Fortunately, the book has enough of value to outweigh the drawbacks. One of the best parts is its forceful condemnation of social media. The internet calls great attention to how much we can’t control our talking (and then causes more of it with constant dopamine hits when others positively reinforce that overtalking). To bolster this point, Lyons explains that pre-internet, our lives were quieter, confined as they were to a manageable circle of mostly local contacts. Before travel, our lives were quieter still, with a circle of contacts hyper-local and tiny to the point of familial. Now, thanks to the internet, that circle is gigantic and ever-growing, yet the brain hasn’t evolved to process the noise of so many chatty and highly stimulating interactions. We’re worse off for it.

Where social media is concerned, he endorses a strategy that most would consider radical: silence as statement. In a time when countless people overshare their opinions and photos for attention, or express outrage over criticism, there’s power and dignity in restraint and silence. It’s also often much more effective--commenting on one’s personal controversy calls even more attention to it and prolongs it.

The challenge is getting comfortable with social-media disengagement knowing that doing so means being overlooked. Regarding that, Lyons digs (although briefly) into the heart of the matter--that incessant posting of thoughts and photos is a sign of not just insecurity but of a primal need to feel like one’s existence matters. The internet highlights people’s inability to shut the fuck up, but it advertises in big, flashing lights a wide-spread fear of feeling unimportant.

Conquering that fear is well worth it, though. Numerous studies have proven without a doubt that for most people social media is extremely damaging. We’re sadder, angrier, more anxious, and more pessimistic after using it. Viewing upsetting content and judging our lives against others’ highlight reels is pointed to as the reason for this, but could refusal to shut up online play a large role? Lyons would probably say yes. Quoting Peter Sagal, host of the Wait Wait . . . Don't Tell Me! game show on National Public Radio, Lyons writes, “You will and have regretted many tweets. You will never regret not tweeting.”

In essence, STFU is about cultivating healthy relationships, of all sorts. Lyons was motivated to write this book because he found stopping his own overtalking and listening actively to be life-changing. He’s happier overall and more comfortable with himself, and he wishes this for his reader. There’s discomfort at first, as our default seems to be to overtalk and to only half listen, but if we can sit with the discomfort and cultivate a habit of shutting up, happiness follows.

In the interest of not being too talkative, which is the focus of this book by Lyons, I will make this review short. This is a book worth reading! The author points out how we have become such poor listeners with so much social media talking at us all the time. He looks at studies done to profile the difference between natural listeners and overwhelming talkers. He explains the genetic implications behind our hereditary factors that demonstrate which category we fall into and why.
I suggest you give this book a try because you will learn more about yourself and others and how to become a better listener!!

I got this book free from the Early Reviewers Program at Library Thing. I have mixed feelings about it. Initially I was super excited, because the chapters about the value of shutting off our screens and getting off social media were excellent. Everyone knows they need to do this more, but Lyons does a GREAT job of giving us actual statistics and research about how much we are doing damage to ourselves by mindlessly scrolling and watching. I also liked the chapter about silence as medicine and the great health effects that we can attain by just spending more time in silence, particularly in nature. Then I got to the parts about shutting the f** up in love and relationships. Perhaps I am negatively biased towards Lyons' point of view because I am a marriage counselor and Lyons makes absolutely no bones about his disdain for counseling or therapy of any kind. He loves the idea of bringing back the "stiff upper lip", and references Prince Harry dragging family business all over the public domain, praising the Queen for never saying a word about the family dynamics in public. While I agree that there is way too much airing of dirty laundry in public spaces, it seems to me that the Queen lived a very solitary and lonely life, and that's what happens when you are never vulnerable enough to let people in and share your world with them. Moving on to couples relationships, Lyons downright says that couples therapy didn't work for them, and quotes the statistics we all know about failed marriages as proof that couples counseling doesn't work. He's happy to quote famous couples therapists like Doherty and Gottman when they support his theories, but leaves out Gottman's very famous quote that couples wait an average of SIX years, AFTER they realize they are in serious trouble, to come to couples therapy. We do not have magic wands and can't just wiggle our nose and make your relationship work. It IS true, as Lyons says, that many counselors do NOT have any special training in couples therapy, and this is surely a problem. It seems like Lyons' end conclusion here is that he just doesn't share a LOT of things with his wife. He lets her talk (which is great) but holds back many important things in his head in his attempt to STFU. Maybe I'm making too much of it, I certainly agree with not overtalking and exhausting your partner in a relationship. But you aren't intimate with someone if they don't know anything about what is going on in your head. So I feel like there's a nuanced middle ground that doesn't get addressed here.

nonfiction/self help for overtalkers

I'm not an overtalker, but most of us have said too much or said something we regret later. If you aren't an overtalker you may want to skim or skip the first 30 pages or so (because overtalking is hard to quit and it gets a little annoying), but the rest of the book is still somewhat interesting/useful for its psychological insights (according to a wide range of experts) and a handful of tips that are helpful to everyone.

If you are more introverted (or even if you aren't) I might suggest in addition/instead:
Jessica Pan's Sorry I'm Late, I Didn't Want to Come which delves a bit more into the modern day problem of loneliness/social isolation as well as helpful insight into what makes a "good" conversation (i.e. showing some vulnerability),
Luvvie Ajaya Jones' The Fear Fighter Manual, for help with speaking up when it does help yourself and others to do so (and other great info on upping your professional game in general),
Susan Cain's Quiet, a classic, and
Lindy West's Shrill, which isn't a self-help book but more of a hilarious, thought-provoking memoir from a so-called "outspoken" woman who has dealt with more than her share of internet trolling.½

A great how-to, self-help book. For the talkers among us, and the quiet ones alike, this book sheds light on the power of shutting up. Broken down into specific chapters with specific approaches, an easy ready that doesn't get too repetitive but further emphasizes the points as it goes.

As someone who is prone to overtalking on rare occasions (right), I jumped at the chance to be an early reviewer for “STFU.” I wasn’t disappointed. Lyon’s book is crammed with insights that lead to one premise: non-talking can lead to more satisfying relationships, career advancements and self-contentment. The author backs up his assertions with solid research from a mix of experts. The book examines various kinds of overtalkers and offers dozens of strategies for overcoming — or at least reducing — this tendency. I found myself jotting down a few dozen nuggets —which is always a sign that a self-help book is actually helpful. As a part-time professor who teaches communications and public speaking classes, I found two themes especially enlightening: Lyon’s exploration of digital overload in this world of pervasive social media “noise,” and his insights on critical listening. “Learning to listen means pushing back against an entire lifetime of being pressured to talk,” he writes. True, not every chapter will be applicable to every reader. For example, as someone who doesn’t have kids, I found myself skimming the section about using STFU strategies for effective parenting. Nevertheless, the book is an excellent primer for “talkaholics” and offers plenty of useful strategies for improving our communications skills.

I am always hesitant when I see titles with "crude" acronyms thinking the book is more about the shock value than the substance. Dan proved me wrong. Not only did I realize I may over-talk even for an introvert but found helpful insights to cut down and control blurting out any though that comes to mind. It's been a while but I even sticky noted several sections to go back and read again. This book is perfect for our overstimulated and extremely loud world.
½

I am still thinking about this book. I found parts very useful, others not so much. I like finding ways to become a better person. I want to be better in all areas of my life. This book gave some techniques to do just that. This book may not be everyone's cup of tea, but there are useful tidbits that can be gleaned from this book.

Dan Lyons shows how talking less and listening more, aka STFU, can apply to working, parenting and everyday interactions. “The goal of STFU is to find ways to communicate more effectively with other people.”

A self-described overtalker, Lyons feels “STFU is selfless. It brings out the best in people around you. Listening to someone, putting all your attention on them instead of yourself, does magic.”

“Talk less, listen more, avoid small talk, make real connections.”

Social media, with the power to both isolate people and bring them together, takes some big hits. “This mix of good and bad makes it even more difficult to strike the right balance and figure out when to STFU.”

Oversharing is cited as a major drawback of social media, sometimes with embarrassing repercussions including job loss. Lyon’s says “the more often I STFU on social media, the easier it becomes for me to STFU during the rest of my life.”

The chapter titled Mansplaining, Manterrupting, and Manalogues is self-explanatory and has techniques for overcoming these habits.

Silence is power, Lyons contends. He argues against giving away your power.

“Nobody has ever come up with a course of therapy for overtalkers, who continue to roam the corporate world, leaving misery and lost productivity in their wake.”

This book is well-written, interesting, and practical. It offers techniques and examples of how to be a better communicator, something we can all use.

I wish I had read this book 20 years ago. Odds are I wouldn’t have shut up long enough to listen to what it has to say. But, just maybe…

Yeah, I took the test – are you an overtalker – that comes with the book and, surprise, surprise, I scored really high. (Not perfect, but high enough.) And, as I read the book, I could see how that tendency to never leave a silent moment unfilled negatively impacted a lot of my communications over the years.

Dan Lyons has researched the concept of people who cannot STFU and this book reflects the various ways being an overtalker negatively impacts your life – work and personal. The book covers a lot of territory, and that may be one of the drawbacks. One minute the book is discussing work, the next it’s personal relationships, next it’s about family, and next it’s somewhere else. In a few instances I found myself drifting. But, when the book struck home to me, it really struck home.

My guess is that everyone who reads it (whether a talkaholic or not) will find sections that resonate; some may find they all resonate. And, yes, everyone should read this. Because, even if you aren’t the talker, you know someone who is. And the information contained herein may help you understand and deal with the ones who are.

This is an excellent book. And it has value. And from it I realized a lot of things about myself, about the way I communicate, and about the way others react to me.

I’m old; I’m retired. It’s probably too late for me. But you may still have a chance. Pick up this book and learn how, by STFUing, you might make things better for yourself and those around you.

Okay, so the author displays just about zero emotional intelligence in navigating the workplace, but jeez, he really nails the startup milieu to perfection. From the Kool-Aid drinking pod people, to the utter disregard for diversity, unabashed ageism, high-drama/low stakes backstabbing, sadistic bosses, stupid marketing jargon – all of it and more is laid bare. The irony (or one of them) is that HubSpot is currently trading at double its IPO price.

A lot of the negative reviews quibble with this book and the author--that he seems like a jerk who sees his co-workers as bozos and dipshits, that he's not really saying anything new by pointing out agism, sexism, and racism in Silicon Valley (as if this didn't need to be continually pointed out)--these reviews miss the point of the book entirely. Which is that this is a book about how Silicon Valley's lip service to making work fun and changing the world and giving meaning to people's lives is a crock that exists to maximize value for investors and founders at the expense of workers.

Or to quote the book itself: "This is the New Work, but really it is just a new twist on an old story, the one about labor being exploited by capital. The difference is that this time the exploitation is done with a big smiley face. Everything about this new workplace, from the crazy décor to the change-the-world rhetoric to the hero's journey mythology and the perks that are not really perks--all of these things exist for one reason, which is to drive down the cost of labor so that investors can maximize their return."

And that's why the book deserves 5 stars.

I checked the audiobook version of this from the library, as I recognized this from a few years back. I enjoyed parts of it, particularly his description of the disconnect from the jargon and new economy boosterism of the executives from the reality of the actual revenue generation and management. The discussion of the age/culture issues between the author and his work colleagues was a little more iffy.
I'm much closer to the author's age and could definitely identify with his discomfort and missteps with a group that's close to half his age, you could also see that his satire/journalism background was even more of an issue. The sections on the problems of Silicon Valley companies and their venture capitalist enablers are more depressing than funny.

Dan Lyons previous book “Disrupted” ranks as one of my all time favorites. It’s a look into startup culture and it’s oddities. Lab Rats picks up on that with an exploration into many other companies that are all imitating and following the “startup feel” - for better or for worse.

Nearly everything mentioned gave me a hint of stress hearing about, as many were part of workplaces I was a part of (and many things that I as a manager did). As a small example, this book mentions personality tests, open offices, ping pong tables, “we are a family” mentality, burn out culture and even a mention of Domo, a company just around the corner from me that is worth billions but operates at a loss.

One theme that stands out from this book is how all these “companies for millennials” aren’t actually making millennials any happier. The key to workplace happiness and even productivity is safety, something that includes physical safety, wellbeing of the company, of your job and gives room to experiment and grow. I feel like the times I’ve been most productive in a role have been when I’ve felt safe in this way as well. Lyons includes some recommendations on how we can move more companies to grow this in their cultures.

Dan Lyons is a Journalist. I can't emphasize that last word enough. Nor, it seems, can Dan Lyons.

Lyons, a former Time writer and internet content raconteur, found himself in his early 50s without a decent job. After decades of covering the latest 20-something billionaires, he (sensibly) decided he wanted to jump into a startup to try to make his own big hit. Disrupted is his tale of woe, bemoaning the millennials and their shoddy union sensibilities and their loud music (no, seriously).

I don't want to dismiss Lyons' takedown of his former employer, Hubspot, as a simple case of "Old guy doesn't get how things work now." There's absolutely no doubt that the management, owners and coworkers at his new employer are insane. The problem is, the things he brings up as issues on which to prosecute an entire industry/generation aren't exclusive to either the industry or that generation: As someone who's worked for a marketing agency, the headquarters of a multilevel marketing company and yes, even newspapers, all of the traits and peculiarities he mentions are things I've encountered. The trait of "being a shitty manager/coworker" is not endemic to a certain age group; it's more just an indicator of shitty people.

Don't get me wrong, the book is fun! See him learn that manager does not equal friend when his crazy direct supervisor's power-tripping petty bullshit constantly tears into Lyons after acting like they're best pals. Watch through some veiled sexism (paraphrase: "I'm not saying all women are shitty, but the three or four whom I interact with the most and are the only ones I talk about in depth in the book are terrible workers AND people") as he grovels to the PR manager for offending her (paraphrase: "I don't understand why she's all upset just because I said an interview she arranged for the CEO went terribly."). Revel as he reveals just how freaking out of touch he is when he tells us about his "hundreds of thousands of Facebook followers" then acts shocked and violated when it turns out his employer is watching what he writes and doesn't particularly enjoy his raining criticism down upon them.

As a former journalist, I particularly disliked the part where he complained about how much better journalists are as people. DID YOU KNOW that journalists: a) don't like meetings; b) would "[slam] doors and [turn] the air blue with profanity" if their boss made them a promise and then someone up the line changed their mind; c) if made to go to training, make fun of each other and the instructors and intentionally waste time. Oh, and also joke about killing someone in front an HR person; d) are lousy when asked to write someone beneath their level, like lead-generating blog posts (because of all their JOURNALISM EXPERIENCE).

Some of those are true, about some of the journalists I've worked with. Most are not. (Though, in fairness, journalists - especially older journalists - do tend to complain a lot that they're not allowed to say literally whatever they want in the newsroom, regardless of sexism/racism/profanity/just terrible ideas. As someone who's listened to a lot of them, this censorship is decidedly in everyone's best interest.) In fact, I'd bet you could replace the word "journalist" with "white guys who worked a white-collar job in the 80s/early 90s" and a lot of Lyons' complaints would have exactly the same meaning. Please note that I'm not calling him racist; I'm saying he's a overprivileged twit.

I'm not so much upset with the book or the writing as I am the idea of the book. Michael Lewis rose to fame with his (then-)shocking expose of the financial industry in Liar's Poker precisely because we didn't already know about. Lyons tended to follow trend stories (he did write for Time, after all) back when he wrote regularly, so his explosive reveal that "most web-based startups have terrible products and even worse business plans" isn't shocking, it's late and, most importantly, lazy. There's lots of good journalism out there about the bad and the good of our current economic/business/cultural climate. And it doesn't require taking a single company as evidence/harbinger of the doom of all things.

In a way, it's a tale of two mistakes. His, for his choice of employer, and me, for choice of reading material. I doubt either of us will make the same mistakes again. Oh, well. Unlike most of the readers of this book, at least I learned something.

Entertaining, but HubSpot is not representative of tech

This was an enjoyable (and fast) read -- Lyons is, among many other things, a great writer. It is a tale of culture clash, and everything he described is completely plausible and probably has happened at tech companies many times.

However, his experience is very different than what I've seen in technology. At real, engineering based organizations (which still exist -- and even for consumer products. Facebook, Amazon, Apple are very strong engineering teams), none of this shit would have been tolerated. Plenty of other bad stuff happens (yes, tech is very demanding of one's time; yes, diversity isn't very high), but there is a core mission and objective standard to guide people.

Ultimately, as a book, this was great. It also makes HubSpot look horrible, especially their actions at the end.

Reads like a horror story for those of us that work in this industry. Entertaining, but the author sometimes really really wants you to feel sympathetic to him, which detracts from the narrative.

One thing that really appalled me in this book was Lyons' inability to assess what effects his own actions will have on others. On so many occasions he does things that, even from his own description, are clearly totally unnecessary and will cause strife within his workplace. Then, when they inevitably do, he seems flabbergasted when people blame him, choosing instead to downplay his role in precipitating the bad situation. What's amazing is how he honestly seems to believe he's in the right in nearly all cases.

For all the bragging the author does about being a real journalist, this book has a grating tone and overall is poorly written. It's especially amazing when compared to [b:Chaos Monkeys: Obscene Fortune and Random Failure in Silicon Valley|28259132|Chaos Monkeys Obscene Fortune and Random Failure in Silicon Valley|Antonio Garcia Martinez|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1465404348s/28259132.jpg|48297249], which is written by someone with no journalistic history but weaves a much more interesting story. Both of the books come from exceedingly cynical writers, but Chaos Monkeys is far more entertaining.

There's also a fair bit of cognitive dissonance contained. It was funny to read the author railing against ageism in the industry but then in the same breath speaking indignantly about how someone younger than him could possibly be his boss. His continued attacks at the lack of diversity in his workplace are also perplexing, coming from a white guy that has done nothing to try to address the problem.

Overall I get the feeling that Lyons may actually be as insufferable as some of his coworkers say.

Author is so disgusted and horrified by the modern world that Ted Kaczynski would be proud. I agree with the criticism of venture funded exploitation economy but there's no attempt at an even handed analysis, just a angry rant that it's easy to join in with since most people have experienced these problems. As for finding the source of these problems or ways to solve them this book has nothing worthy to offer. In fact the last chapters of the book read like some corporate memo on how we'll fix the company during this reorg for sure!

This book was really amusing and kind of scary for lots of different reasons. Both Lyons and HubSpot came across as kind of insufferable, but Lyons also said a lot of what I would have been thinking in his position. HubSpot sounds like a seriously awful place to work. After I finished the book, I read through their website and "Culture Code" and it's just as exhausting as I thought it would be. It's so twee and enthusiastic and self-congratulatory. I would really hate to work there. I also read HubSpot's response to the book (called "Undisrupted" - uuugh) and the writing style is the same there. I don't know how to describe it perfectly but the word insufferable pops up a lot in my head. I'm glad they apologized for calling it a "graduation" whenever someone quit or was fired, though, that was pretty ridiculous. I also did not realize how many startups make MILLIONS and BILLIONS of dollars for investors without even turning a profit...I mean I really have no idea how business works but doesn't it kind of seem like a scam if a small number of people can make such an insane amount on a company that loses money? Maybe this is just how it is now but it doesn't sound like it's great for the employees. And I'm sure it's not this way at all startups but at this one at least it really sounded like people were drinking the kool-aid pretty hard. I feel like it's normal to have some criticisms about your business or place of work, and while there have been lots of places I've loved working at, there haven't been any that I've thought were perfect or where I thought nothing could have been improved. Lyons reporting of the cruelty of the company sounded legit to me, and it makes the cheery emphasis on "delightion" that they put forward as their brand even more cult-ish. On the other hand, Lyons felt like an entitled old who misses the old days when you could talk at work about firing your nanny because she made your wife uncomfortable and not have coworkers think that was gross. But I am more on his side than HubSpot's, mainly because he's one person and they are a company, and their brand even outside of what Lyons wrote about it feels creepy to me...or at least just really annoying. Lyons could probably stand to get his head out of his ass a little bit, because I'm sure many of the jokes he cracked to lighten the mood deserved the blank stares they got, but I feel like this was probably the worst place he could have ended up after journalism. A startup that was less ridiculous and felt more like a business might have gotten him to think about some of the notions he had about how to joke/banter with coworkers in a funny and respectful way in the 21st century, but as it was, there was no way for him to tell what was politically correct for 2015 and what was definitely ridiculous. He did reach out to friends and colleagues to ask about some of the stuff he encountered to be sure that his feelings about them were not overreactions, but the absurdity of HubSpot didn't leave a lot of room for nuance.

I also did think briefly about whether or not it makes me cynical or joyless to not be on board with "delightion" or sending emails with many exclamation points to praise all my coworkers for the AWESOME jobs they're doing!!!!!!! and I think I'm good. I mean, I think I'd rather get my joy elsewhere.