Worries About ChatGPT

ChatGPT is getting a lot of attention, including a Chronicle article about the effect on student writing. (See a writing prompt I submitted and ChatGPT’s response—and why I’m not worried about business communication classes.)

The biggest worry about this AI tool is exactly what the developers promise:

We’ve trained a model called ChatGPT which interacts in a conversational way. The dialogue format makes it possible for ChatGPT to answer followup questions, admit its mistakes, challenge incorrect premises, and reject inappropriate requests. ChatGPT is a sibling model to InstructGPT, which is trained to follow an instruction in a prompt and provide a detailed response.

What’s to become of our assignments if students can simply paste in a prompt and get a computer-generated response? How will students learn to write? The Chronicle article challenges us to reevaluate our assignments: “Assignments and assessments are so formulaic that nobody could tell if a computer completed them.”

Ideas from the article to prevent cheating (which seems to be a primary concern) include showing students why writing is important and, “Flip your teaching so that seminal pieces of work are done in class. Focus more on multimedia assignments or oral presentations. Double down on feedback and revision. Ask students to write about topics of genuine interest to them, in which their voices come through and their opinions are valued.” The author cites problems with adjuncts and large class sizes and suggests that instructors need more time to create meaningful work for students.

I feel optimistic about our business writing courses. How well does AI write to a defined audience, with emotional nuance and appropriate jargon? We don’t teach five-paragraph essays. We teach audience analysis, critical thinking, data integrity, and emotional intelligence, and these topics need more attention. Maybe we use ChatGPT to start arguments, but students verify and build on them. Business communication faculty have always excelled at valuing our students, as a sociologist suggests:

The way forward is not to just lament supplanted skills, as Plato did, but also to recognize that as more complex skills become essential, our society must equitably educate people to develop them. And then it always goes back to the basics. Value people as people, not just as bundles of skills.

One tech writer believes ChatGPT “can be excessively verbose and overuse certain phrases.” That is certainly something our students can fix.

Image source.

FTX Bubble Chart

As fraud and conspiracy charges roll in for FTX Founder Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) so do the graphics. Yahoo has a doozy—a worthy visual showing where $5 billion was spent (and lost), unbeknownst to investors.

As we expect, this bubble chart packs in a lot of data, and the interactivity explains why some bubbles show cut-off or no text at all. Mouse-over text is clear, but it’s hard to pinpoint some small bubbles. By small, I mean those amassing a mere $5 million or less—or “Flourishing Humanity,” which, sadly, received only $80,000. Zooming in solves the text problem, but it’s not intuitive (at least to me) on a laptop. I almost want another level of detail. Another click could tell me what the Pangea Cayman Fund is.

Color contrast is an obvious issue in this chart, with large swaths of black that prevent the at-a-glance value of a good chart on a laptop. Some of the brighter colors make the white text hard to read, but it’s better when zoomed in.

If you share this chart with students to analyze, I hope they’ll find the comma splice in the title.

Interview Advice from a CTO

Deloitte CTO Leo Alexandru offered interview advice in a Twitter thread. Most of it is common sense, but the examples could inspire a good class discussion, including why tech has trouble attracting more women. Here are his (non-parallel) main points in bold, with some commentary:

1. Honesty. Of course, but he recommended admitting concepts that you “never heard of, haven't used in a while, and want to learn more about.” Students would do well to prepare for the last two.

2. The right attitude, which Alexandru describes as “positive, trustworthy, and solution-oriented.”

3. Don't talk s**t about their previous job. This is a good one, and students should prepare for questions about their internships. Even if they were disappointed, how can they describe the experience in a balanced way?

4. Chemistry. This one worries me and reminds me of other assessments about “fit.” Sometimes, this is a veil for “just like me” and leads to a homogenous team.

5. Communication skills. Alexandru writes, “So I am very interested in how well you express a point of view. Without being aggressive.” His perspective could be a difficult balance for women, who, in one study of performance reviews, were far more likely than men to be criticized for being “too aggressive.”

6. Don’t be a “yes man.” See above!

7. Preparation. This is always a good reminder for students: know the job description and research the company ahead of time. The bigger challenge might be integrating what they know into the conversation.

8. Asking questions. Alexandru suggests asking about challenges in the job, what success looks like, and why a previous person left. A colleague told me that she starts an interview by asking what questions the candidate has. Other hiring managers prefer most of the interview to be led by the candidate. An interactive discussion is usually best, and students need to be on their toes.

9. Passion. This is a good reminder for students to show enthusiasm and prepare reasons for wanting the job other than, “Apple is the best company in the world.”

10. Proven track record. Alexandru wants candidates to “show” not just “tell” results. An ePortfolio or other documented work will help.

Top Apple Exec Fired Over Joke

This story could be a challenging class discussion, but it gets at where we draw the line with “jokes.” Apple’s VP of procurement quoted an old movie line and got himself fired.

At a car show, a TikTok creator asked Tony Blevins what he does for a living. With his wife laughing, he quoted Arthur as he got out of his Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren: “I have rich cars, play golf, and fondle big-breasted women. But I take weekends and holidays off.” The video went viral, and Apple terminated the 22-year company veteran.

Students will have opinions, of course. Some will believe, as a New York Post writer believes, “Beyond the gross overreaction, canning top talent over a harmless pop culture reference is a bizarre path to innovation for the world’s top tech company.” Others will find the comment offensive and say that Apple had to act when employees complained to HR. In this sense, the video is an integrity issue for the company.

Either way, it’s a reminder that what students say can end up anywhere and have an impact they don’t intend.

Misleading College Financial Aid Letters

A lively class discussion is almost guaranteed if you introduce the topic of college financial aid letters. A U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) report found that 91% of colleges either underestimate net prices or fail to include the net price entirely.

In their offer letters, the GAO recommends that colleges subtract only grants and scholarships that students will receive but include ancillary costs like “tuition, fees, housing and meals, books, and living expenses.” Any parent with a college-age student—or any student paying their own way—know that these expenses add up.

The GAO report is also a good example for students to analyze. It follows some principles we teach in business communication classes: a clear structure and detailed table of contents (with hyperlinks); a mix of text, tables, and other graphics (with callouts); and an executive summary. Some design features are a bit curious, for example, left-column headings and squiggly lines around tables.

Overall, best practices are clear, and I hope that colleges take the GAO’s advice. The news raises issues of integrity and accountability. I find it interesting that the GAO was renamed the Government Accountability Office from the Government Accounting Office in 2004. The name does seem to better fit the organization’s mission.

FTX Founder Plays the Innocent

Sam Bankman-Fried’s interview about the collapse of FTX tells us a lot about him, about investors, and about regulation. Bankman-Fried chose to tell his story to New York Times columnist Andrew Ross Sorkin via video from the Bahamas. (See transcript.) Starting with a discussion of the many people were “hurt” by the business failing, Sorkin tried to hold Bankman-Fried responsible for billions of losses. He offers two divergent views of what happened to the company: that Bankman-Fried is a “young man who made series of terrible, terrible, very bad decisions,” or that he “committed a massive fraud—that this is a ponzi scheme, a manipulation of the system.”

Business communication students might see this as a false dichotomy. Bankman-Fried claimed that his goal was to “do right” by people and that he made mistakes. He said, “Look, I screwed up. I was C.E.O. I was the C.E.O. of FTX. And I say this again and again that it means I had a responsibility, and I was responsible ultimately for us doing the right things and didn’t. We messed up big.” But he denied setting out to commit fraud. Ross read a letter from someone who says he lost $2 million—his life savings—and that Bankman-Fried used his money to fund his hedge fund. Maybe both narratives are true, and Bankman-Fried isn’t seeing or admitting it.

Students might benefit from a class discussion or assignment about the investor perspective. Not to the blame the victim, but what accountability do investors have in this situation? What were they hoping to achieve compared to other investors—or compared to the general public who do not have $2 million to invest? Depending on how far you want to take this story, a discussion about regulation is certainly relevant, and students, particularly if they or they families have benefitted from crypto investments, might have a lot to say about it.

Otherwise, the video serves as a good example to analyze for delivery, persuasion, character, and interview skills. How is Bankman-Fried as a presenter? How does he balance logical arguments, emotional appeals, and credibility? What character dimensions are at play? Was it the best decision, going against his lawyers’ advice, to do this interview—and from his penthouse in the Bahamas? How well did he respond to questions? Overall, are students more—or less—favorable about Bankman-Fried after watching the interview?

Problems with Medical Jargon

A new study identified specific phrases that patients would likely misunderstand from their healthcare provider. Students probably know that medical jargon causes problems, and they might be interested in analyzing their own provider’s communication.

The survey asked respondents to interpret these phrases, listed in the article supplement. In most cases, respondents were asked whether the news is good or bad. I can see how some could go either way. What does progressive, unremarkable, or impressive mean in a medical diagnosis? We could consider this issue a problem with humility in the medical profession.

Understanding didn’t improve with either age or education. In the demographic section, survey authors did provide non-binary options for gender: female, male, non-binary, other. A related article this week describes data scientists’ challenges when asking about gender. Although researchers found no significant differences in this study, in other studies, gender matters greatly, and students should consider this question carefully in their own primary research.

Snap Memo Delivers Bad News

Snap employees who avoided the 20% layoff in August just got bad news: they need to spend at least 80% of their time back in the office. The timing makes sense for the company to capitalize on employees’ gratitude for having a job. Tech downsizing might not give Snap employees who want to leave a lot of options.

I don’t see the full memo online, but here’s the bottom line from CEO Evan Spiegel:

"I believe that spending more time together in person will help us to achieve our full potential. What each of us may sacrifice in terms of our individual convenience, I believe we will reap in terms of our collective success."

Spiegel also wrote:

"We've been working this way for so long that I'm afraid we've forgotten what we've lost—and what we could gain—by spending more time together. I believe that 'default together,' while retaining flexibility for our team members, will help us to accelerate our growth and deliver on our strategic priorities of growing our community, reaccelerating our revenue growth, and leading in AR."

Business communication faculty often teach students to avoid qualifiers like “I believe” and “I think” for persuasive communication. In this case, Spiegel writes “I believe,” and it fits. This is bad news, and the qualifier softens the tone. Company leaders can’t say with full confidence that working in the office will have these certain outcomes. Without “I believe” or “we believe,” they might sound like jerks, which they might be, anyway. I don’t see a lot of compassion, at least in these excerpts.

Also, writing “I believe” three times in four sentences is a bit excessive. A spokesperson repeated the phrase when responding to CNET about the story:

“After working remotely for so long we're excited to get everyone back together next year with our new 80/20 hybrid model. We believe that being together in person, while retaining flexibility for our team members, will enhance our ability to deliver on our strategic priorities of growing our community, driving revenue growth, and leading in AR."

In case you missed it, The New York Times ran an article about young employees “romanticizing” working in an office. Their employers are lucky that these TikTok videos are so popular.

Image source.

Company and Celeb Last Tweets

With all the turmoil at Twitter, companies and celebrities are posting their final tweets, some giving reasons and some quietly slipping away. Their choices offer lessons in integrity and authenticity. Here are examples for students to analyze:

CBS News Bay Area: In light of the uncertainty around Twitter and out of an abundance of caution, CBS News Bay Area is pausing its activity on the social media site as we continue to monitor the platform.

Playbill: [at right]

Balenciaga: [Deleted account without comment.]

Shonda Rhimes: Not hanging around for whatever Elon has planned. Bye.

Sara Bareilles: Welp. It’s been fun Twitter. I’m out. See you on other platforms, peeps. Sorry, this one’s just not for me. [heart and prayer-hands emojis]

Toni Braxton: I'm shocked and appalled at some of the "free speech" I've seen on this platform since its acquisition. Hate speech under the veil of "free speech" is unacceptable; therefore I am choosing to stay off Twitter as it is no longer a safe space for myself, my sons and other POC.

Disney Comms About Ousted CEO

Students might enjoy comparing internal and external messages from Disney about Bob Iger’s return just 11 months after his retirement. Lagging investor confidence and profits ended the current CEO’s short tenure in the position, which the board skirts in the press release.

As we might expect, the public statement includes typical quotes from the incoming leader (Iger) and board chair. Missing are comments from the outgoing CEO, Bob Chapek, although the chair thanks him “for his service to Disney over his long career, including navigating the company through the unprecedented challenges of the pandemic.” Iger is positioned as “uniquely situated to lead the Company through this pivotal period.” Here’s Iger’s quote for the release:

“I am extremely optimistic for the future of this great company and thrilled to be asked by the Board to return as its CEO,” Mr. Iger said. “Disney and its incomparable brands and franchises hold a special place in the hearts of so many people around the globe—most especially in the hearts of our employees, whose dedication to this company and its mission is an inspiration. I am deeply honored to be asked to again lead this remarkable team, with a clear mission focused on creative excellence to inspire generations through unrivaled, bold storytelling.”

In an email to employees, below, Iger mentions “gratitude and humility” and focuses on his audience—”cast members” who have probably struggled in many ways during the past couple of years. He says nothing about Chapek, but really, what is there to say? It might just sound false.

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Dear Fellow Employees and Cast Members,

It is with an incredible sense of gratitude and humility—and, I must admit, a bit of amazement—that I write to you this evening with the news that I am returning to The Walt Disney Company as Chief Executive Officer.

When I look at the creative success of our teams across our Studios, Disney General Entertainment, ESPN and International, the rapid growth of our streaming services, the phenomenal reimagining and rebound of our Parks, the continued great work of ABC News, and so many other achievements across our businesses, I am in awe of your accomplishments and I am excited to embark with you on many new endeavors.

I know this company has asked so much of you during the past three years, and these times certainly remain quite challenging, but as you have heard me say before, I am an optimist, and if I learned one thing from my years at Disney, it is that even in the face of uncertainty—perhaps especially in the face of uncertainty—our employees and Cast Members achieve the impossible.

You will be hearing more from me and your leaders tomorrow and in the weeks ahead. In the meantime, allow me to express my deep gratitude for all that you do. Disney holds a special place in the hearts of people around the globe thanks to you, and your dedication to this company and its mission to bring joy to people through great storytelling is an inspiration to me every single day.

Bob Iger

Image source.

Raphael Warnock Is My New Bestie

So far, I’ve tracked 56 emails from Reverend Raphael Warnock since November 10 (average = 5.6 per day). I’ve saved all of them, so contact me if you would like to read them—or assign them to students to analyze.

The sheer volume is fascinating. I could have stopped the flow by unsubscribing if had I opened any of them and seen this grey box. I retrieved them from my trash after talking to a friend and deciding they would make an interesting blog post and repository.

The subject lines alone are worth a class discussion. I’m old fashioned and still use title case, but the Warnock team rarely hits the shift key at all. He also calls me “friend” more than feels comfortable. Clearly, he’s striving for authenticity, but it feels forced, along with his many family photos.

Research shows that emails are effective for political campaigns, partly because they’re so inexpensive, as authors of this 2011 Journal of Political Marketing article explain:

Given the very low cost associated with using email to communicate with supporters, it appears to be an effective means for harvesting small contributions and of providing opportunities for large numbers of voters to elevate their level of participation in the electoral process.

The approach didn’t work for me, but maybe others responded well.

Musk's Ultimatum Email

Elon Musk continues to spread love and joy across his new company. The latest missive is an email asking employees to “click yes” to affirm that they still want to be part of Twitter, which he describes as “hardcore” and requiring “working long hours at high intensity.” Apparently, hundreds of employees refused and opted for three months of severance pay instead.

I see this email as an embarrassment, but I’m guessing that Musk doesn’t care or feels proud of it. He must have known that the message, like all of his, would be made public. How funny to read this in light of all the “quiet quitting” news, although I suspect that that wave has passed since the massive tech layoffs started. Still, no one wants to work for a jerk.

The email is a good example for students to analyze for tone and character. Of course, some students will defend Musk who, for them, can do no wrong.

From: Elon Musk

To: Team [at Twitter]

Subj. A Fork in the Road

Date: Nov. 16, 2022 [time stamp removed]

Going forward, to build a breakthrough Twitter 2.0 and succeed in an increasingly competitive world, we will need to be extremely hardcore. This will mean working long hours at high intensity. Only exceptional performance will constitute a passing grade.

Twitter will also be much more engineering-driven. Design and product management will still be very important and report to me, but those writing great code will constitute the majority of our team and have the greatest sway.

At its heart, Twitter is a software and servers company, so l think this makes sense.

If you are sure that you want to be part of the new Twitter, please click yes on the link below:

[Link removed]

Anyone who has not done so by 5pm ET tomorrow (Thursday) will receive three months of severance.

Whatever decision you make, thank you for your efforts to make Twitter successful.

Elon

Handwritten Thank-You Notes

About once a year, I read an article reminding us that handwritten notes are still appreciated. The rarer they get, the more meaningful they are. One etiquette coach explains:

Handwritten notes are a differentiator. They show the person you’re thanking that you made a sincere effort to acknowledge their act of kindness or generosity.

I haven’t seen new evidence supporting these thank-you notes, but they certainly can’t hurt as long as they’re sincere. Students also shouldn’t forgo a thank-you email, for example, after an interview: an email within 24 hours of an interview is still expected, while a postal note can take a few days—perhaps after a call-back or hiring decision is made.

Experts suggest just three sentences:

• Thank the giver for the gift or act.

• Say what it means to you: how you’ll use it or how it affects you.

• Say thanks again and write something forward-looking, for example, what you’re looking forward to and how you’ll reconnect with them.

Public Talk of Layoffs

I remember when people where ashamed of being laid off. Old movies show men leaving for “work” months after they no longer had a job.

Today, people find community in discussing their fate, and they use their favorite platform—sometimes their former employer—to share their stories. Partly, the shame is lifted because of the numbers: 11,000 at Meta; 10,000 at Amazon; 3,700 at Twitter; 950 at Salesforce; and many others. In a colorful, but mostly unreadable chart, TrueUp logged 192,997 so far in 2022. (Maybe the logos could be scalable?)

The unfortunately named Blind app connects employees in several industries, particularly tech (95% of Twitter employees signed up). Students can review comments for an inside scoop just as they do on Glassdoor.

I feel encouraged by the public postings. In addition to the obvious compassion and vulnerability, the stories—good and bad about the layoff process and communication—keeps employers on their toes. Also, people are finding new jobs, and this will get easier as the market, once again, opens up.

SoftBank Tones Down Presentations

SoftBank is changing how it presents information. Gone are the “flamboyant” charts. At the latest earnings results presentation, CEO Masayoshi Son started by describing what will be different this time and going forward: he will no longer deliver results but will pass that responsibility to the chief financial officer.

First, he addressed directly concerns about his health. He says, “You may ask why . . . “ [translated to English] and proceeded to tell us in about 30 minutes. After background about his interest in the “information revolution,” he explained,

Goto [CFO] is more suitable than me for playing defense. Me, I’m an aggressive person, not a defensive person, and I’d like to concentrate on Arm [chip manufacturer] for the time being.

Son said he’ll still be active: “I’ll continue to do the shareholder meetings, and when something unpredictable happens, I’ll come back anytime.”

Son has shown infamous charts with golden geese, unicorns, and rainbows. I wrote about his “hypothetical” line charts—like the WeWork line chart above, with an arrow but no data—in Chapter 9 of Business Communication and Character.

The current earnings deck is notably different, and this slide shows why. Losses are mounting, Son’s more “subdued role” matches SoftBank’s less aggressive investing style. The company has taken a dose of humility.

An Argument to Abolish the Greek System

An Insider Higher Ed opinion letter might interest students as an example of a persuasive argument. Cornell faculty member Daniel Schwartz argues that fraternities and sororities do more harm than good.

Schwartz includes a few opposing reasons, as we teach students to do. For example, he writes, “To be sure, one can find alumni and students who believe fraternities and sororities do enrich the lives of young adults.” He also acknowledges that the system contributes housing and that pressure from alumni makes the decision difficult. But, of course, he counters these points.

Students can identify examples of logical arguments, emotional appeals, and credibility in the letter. I’m sure they will offer their own evidence, including examples from their experience.

Meta's Well-Timed Layoff Message

How clever for Meta to announce 11,000 layoffs as we watch the news for election results. Still, the news ranked highly, with a big headline on the WSJ home page.

Unlike Elon Musk’s curt email to Twitter employees last week, Mark Zuckerberg’s note is longer and posted publicly, which is smart since it would likely hit the press anyway. He follows business communication guidelines by placing the main point up front, and he demonstrates accountability and compassion in the introduction:

I want to take accountability for these decisions and for how we got here. I know this is tough for everyone, and I’m especially sorry to those impacted.

His explanation of what went wrong also demonstrates accountability—and humility: “I got this wrong, and I take responsibility for that.”

Zuckerberg describes severance and other benefits in bullets, and he expresses optimism in the future. Employees will question whether they’re affected, but I’m not sure he can say anything differently in the message because cuts are across the board. Still, people might appreciate a bit more information about how decisions were made.

People must be on edge. Zuckerberg wrote, “Everyone will get an email soon letting you know what this layoff means for you.” How soon? He also offers the chance to “speak with someone to get their questions answered and join information sessions.” The goal seems to be communication by email and mass meetings. In-person meetings are best for delivering bad news, but given remote work and scale, this method is probably the only practical way to go

Twitter Layoff Messages

Perhaps the best example of a bad-news message is a layoff memo (below), and Elon Musk’s Twitter email doesn’t disappoint. Just days after the purchase went through and after a deafening silence, the new CEO sent a short message confirming what employees expected.

The email is classic Musk: direct and decisive, without a lot of compassion. He makes the news extra painful by expressing his distrust: cutting people off from offices and systems and reminding people not to share confidential information (which at least one person did by sharing the internal email).

Layoff messages are typically softer, with more specific reasons for the decision, a rationale for who goes and who stays, more gratitude to those leaving, more information about what people can expect, and more optimism about the future of the company. They are also a chance for leaders to demonstrate their own humility and vulnerability. But that’s not Elon Musk. (That describes Brian Chesky, whose Airbnb layoff message—posted publicly—is still one of my favorites.)

The actual layoffs the next day didn’t go much better. “Confusion” prevailed as 50% were laid off, some losing access in the middle of meetings. Now Musk is left with what he called a “massive drop in revenue” and class-action lawsuits from employees.

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Team,

In an effort to place Twitter on a healthy path, we will go through the difficult process of reducing our global workforce on Friday. We recognize that this will impact a number of individuals who have made valuable contributions to Twitter, but this action is unfortunately necessary to ensure the company's success moving forward.

Given the nature of our distributed workforce and our desire to inform impacted individuals as quickly as possible, communications for this process will take place via email. By 9AM PST on Friday Nov. 4th, everyone will receive an individual email with the subject line: Your Role at Twitter. Please check your email, including your spam folder.

If your employment is not impacted, you will receive a notification via your Twitter email. 

If your employment is impacted, you will receive a notification with next steps via your personal email.

If you do not receive an email from twitter-hr@ by 5PM PST on Friday Nov. 4th, please email xxxxxxxx.

To help ensure the safety of each employee as well as Twitter systems and customer data, our offices will be temporarily closed and all badge access will be suspended. If you are in an office or on your way to an office, please return home.

We acknowledge this is an incredibly challenging experience to go through, whether or not you are impacted. Thank you for continuing to adhere to Twitter policies that prohibit you from discussing confidential company information on social media, with the press or elsewhere.

We are grateful for your contributions to Twitter and for your patience as we move through this process.

Thank you.

Image source.

Research About "Low-Response" People

Research about persuading people to pay NYC parking tickets has implications for business communicators—and raises questions of character. The study, published in American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, found that reminder letters get more people to pay fines, but this approach doesn’t work for everyone.

People who respond least to the “nudges,” including notices about greater fines, happen to be those least likely to pay in the first place. Referred to as “low-response” types, these folks need sterner warnings. As one author says, “It’s only when they get this legal-looking letter that says, ‘We are in default judgment against you; you may get towed.’” Most interesting, people in the “low-response” groups tend to be from historically “disadvantaged populations—lower income, less education, and higher proportions of Black or other racial groups.”

The authors acknowledge that their recommendations ”would not be based on individual characteristics (e.g., income, race, neighborhood) but only on past behavior–while statistically helping traditionally underserved populations to avoid penalties with a nonintrusive nudge. We further note that, in proposing this policy, we are not assuming that the low baseline response rates of the LRs are suboptimal. Rather, we are pointing out a lower-cost policy that could induce more timely payments from the LRs without imposing larger penalties on them.”

Still, this study raises questions about character, for example, compassion, integrity, and accountability. Am I the only one cringing at the term “low-response type” and use of “LRs”? Is it right to threaten one group but not another, even if it’s based on past behavior? True, people should pay fines, but we have deeper societal issues and inequities to consider. How do people in these groups view rules and law enforcement? Are people in lower-income neighborhoods or with cars in greater disrepair more likely to get tickets in the first place?

If, as the authors say, their proposed policy is helpful to avoid “imposing larger penalties,” why not simply eliminate fines that some people can’t afford to pay? Our local library has stopped charging late fees so they don’t discourage reading and cause a disparate impact. The authors do propose eliminating later, greater fines that have little impact and most affect people in historically disadvantaged populations. Theoretically, data can also be used for a sliding fee scale according to income level—or perhaps the value of one’s car.

The simpler takeaway for business communication students is the relevance of knowing your audience. As study authors say, NYC already has the data and can customize approaches. We do teach analyzing an audience and tailoring a message. But students may discuss the ethics of using data and taking different approaches in these types of situations.

Trevor Noah Announces Leaving The Daily Show

At the end of the show and the middle of a bunch of jokes, Trevor Noah announced that he’s leaving The Daily Show after seven-years. The video is an example of bad news, although I’m surprised at how he delivered the message (and I missed it last month).

His decision seemed to surprise his boss, who had lunch with him the day before and thought he would stay for at least the 2023-24 season. Even more surprising is that people at the media company would admit this to The Hollywood Reporter, which quoted a “high-ranking insider” (debatable?) as saying, “We were completely shocked.”

Noah’s five-minute video started with his gratitude for the seven-year experience. About two minutes in, he said, “My time is up. Yeah, but in the most beautiful way, honestly.” Then he described what he enjoyed about the show and what he misses, including traveling. All of it sounded unscripted, which of course, is consistent with his style and sounded authentic.

His approach is understandable partly because he didn’t have a set departure date at the time. He joked, “I’m not disappearing. Don’t worry. If I still owe you money. I’ll still pay you.”

Otherwise, it felt awkward. He did say, “I’ve never been good at, uh, goodbyes.” That much is clear.