In May 2020, Airbnb was going through one of the most difficult moments in its history.
The pandemic had brought travel to a halt all over the world, and a company built around the idea of belonging anywhere suddenly faced a scenario no one had foreseen. The business had collapsed and Brian Chesky, Airbnb’s co-founder and CEO, had to make one of the hardest decisions since the company existed: letting almost 1,900 people go.
Chesky wrote a public letter that, to this day, is still studied as one of the great examples of corporate communication in complex situations.
Perhaps because it demonstrates something many organizations discover too late: people usually handle hard decisions better than bad communication.
The first sentence read:
“I have a very sad message to share.”
It may seem simple, but it contains one of the most important keys to communication in delicate moments. Before talking about the business, he acknowledged the emotional impact that news was going to have on those receiving it.
When a communication ignores the emotion of the listener, the message usually fades into the background. Further on there was another especially interesting fragment:
“We don’t know exactly when travel will return. And when it does, it will probably be different.”
At that time, many companies were trying to convey a sense of control that, in reality, no one had.
Airbnb chose to acknowledge the uncertainty.
And that’s especially relevant because trust doesn’t always come from having answers, but from the honesty with which the questions that are still open are acknowledged.
Another of the most important moments in the letter comes when he explains how the decision was made.
Chesky devotes several pages to explaining which areas disappear, which are reduced and why the company needs to refocus on its core activity.
He could have communicated only the decision. Instead, he chose to share the reasoning.
And that difference is enormous, because a person may not agree with a decision and still accept it better when they understand how it was reached.
Further on comes what is probably one of the most remembered lines in the whole letter:
“Please know that this is not your fault.”
In just a few words he managed to separate the business decision from the professional worth of those affected.
And that has an enormous impact in any difficult conversation.
People don’t only try to understand what’s happening; they also try to understand what it means for themselves. The letter took special care of that aspect. And there’s still one last detail that usually goes unnoticed. After communicating the decision, Airbnb devoted a large part of the message to explaining what was going to happen next.
Severance, relocation support, healthcare coverage and support measures took up an important part of the letter. Because a difficult communication doesn’t end when the news is delivered. It ends when people understand what the next steps are.
That’s probably one of the reasons this letter is still studied years later.
It managed to communicate a deeply painful decision without losing clarity, humanity or respect.
This story isn’t really about layoffs. It’s about a skill that has more and more impact within organizations: communication.
Much of what happens inside a company depends on how people share ideas, make decisions and understand one another.
Airbnb’s story demonstrates something we tend to forget easily: people don’t only remember what is communicated to them; they remember how that communication made them feel. And that difference ends up directly influencing trust.
Today there’s also an element transforming the way we build messages: artificial intelligence. More and more professionals use it to organize ideas, prepare meetings or develop presentations.
However, the ability to give meaning to a message, convey judgment and connect with others remains profoundly human.
Hence the importance that training to develop talent today be Humántica.
— Berta
P.S.: Do you think communication is an undervalued skill within organizations?
