THE CANDID, COMMENDABLE WAY TO TELL PEOPLE YOU WERE JUST FIRED (OR JUST FIRED SOMEONE) JONATHAN RICK THE JONATHAN RICK GROUP

Not This Way

“Today, the success of

Android, combined with

the strength of our

management team, gives

me the confidence to

step away from Android

and hand over the reins.”

—Andy Rubin, Google

This Way

“I’ve decided that I’d like to

spend more time with my

family. Just kidding—I was

fired today.”

—Andrew Mason, Groupon

“No soft landing, no happy

ending—we simply failed.”

—Chris Poole, DrawQuest

“While our overarching

goals are similar, Jim,

John and I have agreed to

disagree over the strategy

for achieving those goals.

There is no acrimony and

no drama—simply an

acceptance by the three of

us that the dynamics were

just not there for us to

function seamlessly.” —Rick Berke, Politico

“Our sites are allergic to

corporate boilerplate, so I’m

going to be explicit. Chris

and I diverge seriously over

strategy.”

—Nick Denton, Gawker Media

“Geoff is a real talent

and one of the smartest

thinkers in our editorial

group, but unfortunately

did not integrate well

with the structure both

within his team and the

company as a whole.”

—Joel Johnson, Gawker Media

“For reasons which I’m not too

clear on … I am being replaced

as editor-in-chief of Gawker.

Honesty is Gawker’s only virtue,

so it seems inappropriate to

engage in the usual corporate

euphemisms … so I’ll put this as

plainly as we’d report any other

masthead ouster: I am being

canned.”

—Gabriel Snyder, Gawker Media

What’d I Miss?

Let me know at @jrick!