Contrary to Elon Musk’s handling of Twitter’s mass exodus, this is a breath of fresh air.
Read the article:
and decide if the sentences below are true or false?
(you’ll find the answers in the first 7 paragraphs)
1. The author of the article describes the way in which Elon Musk made a lot of Twitter’s employees redundant in a favourable manner.
2. Mark Zuckerberg said he had to make so many people redundant in spite of the fact there were some other ways of dealing with the company problems.
3. The author of the article expresses his distaste about how Meta works to earn money.
4. It’s uncommon today for people to be informed in online meetings that they are dismissed.
5. Some big-league leaders wouldn’t like to tarnish their reputation taking the blame for getting rid of their employees.
6. The lesson one can draw from Zuckerberg’s way of handling the problem is that it’s human to err.
In order to check your answers/ read the whole article, go to: https://www.forbes.com/sites/jeetendrsehdev/2023/01/10/prince-harry-a-brand-in-crisis-with-spare-in-2023/?sh=1960cc5f7c17
Key: 1. 1F; 2F; 3T; 4F; 5T; 6T
Glossary
- layoff – an occasion when a company stops employing someone, sometimes temporarily, because the company does not have enough money or enough work
- to fire – to remove someone from their job, either because they have done something wrong or badly, or as a way of saving the cost of employing them
- train wreck – an utter disaster or mess
- to take a leap of faith – do something even though you are not sure it is right or will succeed
- to pave the way forward – to make it easier for (something to happen or someone to do something)
- botched – spoiled
- harrowing – extremely disturbing or distressing
Practice makes perfect
Replace the words 1-9 in the extract of the article: Elon Musk Keeps Breaking His Word. It Matters More Than You Think with the words in bold below. Make sure their grammatical form is correct.
:
moderate lay off pledge quit
allegedly set out take over severance
When Elon Musk 1. took charge of Twitter, he made it clear from the beginning that he planned to break some things. Most outside observers would agree there were things about Twitter that were already broken and needed some serious work.
And so, Musk 2. started remaking Twitter in his own image. He 3. let go half of Twitter’s employees, fired even more of them, and had a large number of those who remained 4. leave rather than agree to a 5. vow to be “extremely hardcore.” With the exception of those he fired, Musk promised three months of 6. dismissal wage for those who left.
Not only have they not been paid, but there are reports that Twitter is planning to simply ignore that promise and simply defend against lawsuits from former employees instead. The company has also 7. allegedly stopped paying its bills to save expenses. For example, it hasn’t been paying rent on its offices for weeks. The scale and speed at which he managed to break Twitter, along with all of his promises, is 8. astounding.
He made other promises, as well. For example, Musk referred to himself as a “free speech absolutist,” who would run the site as a global town square. In his telling, that means asking whether “someone you don’t like [is] allowed to say something you don’t like.
In an interview at the TED Conference in April, Musk told host Chris Anderson that “If that is the case, then we have free speech. It’s damn annoying, but that is the sign of a healthy, functioning free speech situation.”
It wasn’t long before Musk realized just how annoying it really is to have to decide what “free speech” to keep, and which to 9. curb. For example, over the weekend, Musk blocked a group of journalists who he claims shared his real-time “assassination coordinates.” Which, to be fair, seems like the kind of thing that a social media platform should block–if that is what they did.
Now read the whole article/check your answers: https://www.inc.com/jason-aten/elon-musk-keeps-breaking-his-word-it-matters-more-than-you-think.html
Key: 1. took over; 2. set out; 3. laid off; 4. quit; 5. pledge; 7. apparently; 8. astonishing; 9. moderate
Fill in the gaps in the sentences below with some of the words in bold above:
1. We have to …. our expenses or else we will go bankrupt.
2. When the director left, Terry was asked to …….. .
3. What a ……. job this turned out to be.
4. The final two hours were among the most …….. of my life.
5. The company said it did not have enough money to pay them ………
Key: 1. curb; 2. take over; 3. botched; 4. harrowing; 5. severance
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Elon Musk Accidentally Includes Himself in Latest Round of Mass Layoffs
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