Gary Vee: "i was an all-time atrocious firer"
Description
Gary Vee managed people from age 18. spent decades thinking his superpower was making his team fearless. turns out he was making them scared, because they never knew where they stood with him. he'd be warm with someone on friday. fire them monday after sitting on the problem for 18 months. then blame them for being blindsided. this clip is him explaining the moment he realized it, what it cost him, and the framework he built to fix it: kind candor. full episode on youtube. No more small boy spreadsheets, build your business on the free HubSpot CRM: https://mfmpod.link/hrd For more quality videos subscribe here → https://tinyurl.com/46rjnckx 🔔 Turn on notifications to stay updated with new uploads
Summary
Generated by claude-haiku-4-5-20251001Gary Vee: "I Was an All-Time Atrocious Firer"
Main Topics
- Management and firing practices: The challenges of terminating employees
- Candor in leadership: The importance of honest communication with team members
- Self-awareness and accountability: Recognizing blind spots in personal leadership style
- Fear elimination vs. fear creation: The unintended consequences of leadership approach
Key Points
- The Core Problem: Gary's inability to practice candor was his biggest blind spot, despite thinking it was a strength
- Fear Elimination Backfired: While Gary prided himself on removing fear from the workplace, his lack of transparency actually created fear because employees didn't know where they stood with him
- Pattern of Poor Exits: Gary fired multiple people (he references eight specific cases) in a consistently sloppy manner without proper communication
- The Delayed Firing Pattern:
- Would treat employees normally on Fridays ("have the best weekend, my guy")
- Would terminate them the following Monday
- Had often been sitting on the decision for 6-18 months without any conversation
- Would then blame the employee and justify the delay as "giving them a year of charity"
- Accountability Realization: Upon reflection, Gary recognized his firings were uniformly poor quality and took responsibility rather than continuing to blame the employees
Notable Quotes
> "I wasn't a bad firer. I was an all time atrocious firer."
> "By far the biggest problem the three of us have is something we can't see."
> "I used to think my greatest strength was eliminating fear...but it actually ended up leading to the worst of the worst."
> "These were all sloppy exits. All of them."
Takeaways
- Candor is essential: Leaders must communicate directly and honestly about performance issues rather than avoiding difficult conversations
- Blind spots are dangerous: Our perceived strengths can mask significant weaknesses we don't recognize
- Lack of feedback creates fear: Ambiguity about job security is worse than honest feedback
- Accountability matters: Taking responsibility for poor leadership decisions is the first step to improvement
- Consistency in execution: If you must fire someone, do it thoughtfully and fairly—not abruptly after hidden deliberation
Transcript
I wasn't a bad firer. I was an all time atrocious firer, right? And I didn't see it. By far the biggest problem the three of us have is something we can't see. I used to think of it as my ultimate strength. It led to so much good, but it actually ended up leading to the worst of the worst. I've been managing people since I was 18 years old. I used to think my greatest strength was eliminating fear. I can take care of everything, I got it. And I had this day in my early forties. I thought everybody was rolling with me with lack of fear, but many of my company were scared because they didn't know where they stood with me because I was unable to do candor. And on Friday, I was like, Sammy, have the best weekend, my guy. And you're working with me for three years. All right, Gary, you too. And then Monday, I'd be like, Sam, need to talk to you in my office. Hey, so it's your last day. And by the way, I've been sitting on this for a year and a half. Back to your point, Sam, right? And today's your last day. And you're like, you've never said anything. And then I would blame you. I'd be like, Sam, you're so deluded. Then I would talk to Sean, be like, Sean, could you believe Sam? Everyone in the company knows Sam sucked for the last 18 months. I was giving him a gift for the last year of charity. And he's mad at me. I was coming up with that excuse. So my candor was at a zero. I knew I had to be accountable. I'm like, why are these people who are all lovely people who have really nice careers on the equity of their time with me? Why are they upset with me? And it was all, and I knew it because I just looked at the eight names. And I was like, these were all sloppy exits. All of them. [SPEAKER_00] How are they? [SPEAKER_00] How are they? How are they? How are they?