UNEDITD Presents TOP PERSPECTIVES EDITION 10 · WEEK OF SEPTEMBER 14, 2026 MADDY VISWANATH · CRAFT YOUR CONFIDENCE |
Welcome back to Top Perspectives. A new guide from the Journal, and the follow-through on a story from three weeks ago. |
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This week · one The Wall Street Journal's 24 new rules for succeeding at work Five Wall Street Journal reporters built a guide of 24 rules for succeeding at work, with a stated brief: “No platitudes about where to lean. We wanted real tactics.” Rule 6 asks what to say when the CEO steps onto your elevator. Hilton CEO Chris Nassetta's answer: “Introduce yourself, say hello, look me in the eye, tell me what you're working on.” Rule 20 comes from restaurateur Will Guidara: “If you work for me and I don't know where you're trying to go, then I have an inability to help you get there.” Yahoo CEO Jim Lanzone gets the final word. The people who drive a project forward, he said, “are very well known inside of a company at every level.” |
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This week · two
Oracle has begun the cuts reported in August
Three weeks ago this newsletter covered Oracle's plans for another round of job cuts. On September 14, Business Insider reported that the cuts have begun, citing three people affected and the notification email. The email refers to “a broader organizational change” and tells the recipient that today is their last working day. Last month's reporting put the planned cuts at double-digit percentages on some teams. Oracle's workforce had already fallen by 21,000, or 13 percent, in the fiscal year that ended May 31.
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| Maddy's read If that email reached you or someone on your team this week, start here. Business Insider describes these cuts as a plan to reduce payroll. For everyone else, this week begins with Guidara's rule. Guidara's rule asks for a conversation that rarely feels urgent. A manager who does not know where you want to go can only help with the role you are already in. The conversation can feel presumptuous, so it waits for the annual review, and the review is about the year behind you. The guide adds a caution: not in your second week, and Guidara says to “watch the seasons pass” in the role first. For a leader who has run a function through a few of those seasons, the timing part of that caution has already been met. |
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The move this week Before Friday, have the elevator conversation on purpose, with someone two levels above you. Start with Nassetta's answer: introduce yourself, say hello, look them in the eye, tell them what you're working on. Add why it matters to the business. Then add what Guidara says a leader needs to know before they can help: where you are trying to go next. |
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Tool of the week · The Readiness Score Somebody is going to describe you in one line this quarter, and they will do it without asking you first. You should probably know what that line says. The Readiness Score reads your LinkedIn profile the way a talent review reads it and hands back the version of you that arrives ahead of you, in about two minutes. |
See you next Monday. Maddy |
P.S. Rule 21 comes from Kim Scott: “What can I do that would make it easier to work with me?” |
Craft Your Confidence |
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