Archive - Wes Kao's Newsletter

How to delegate while maintaining high standards

This is for managers who want to delegate AND maintain a high bar for quality of work. Here are the 5 tactics I learned over time that made delegating…

Jul 9 •

June 2025

How to fix limbo writing

When writing is obviously bad, you delete it. When writing is obviously good, you ship it. But what if it’s not terrible, but it’s not good either? I…

Jun 25 •

Take 3 minutes to delete these words and improve your writing forever

Before you hit “send,” delete these words from your writing. Your message will be stronger for it.

Jun 18 •

Everything takes longer than you think

The problem isn’t that you’re not working fast enough. It’s that your expectations were never realistic to begin with.

Jun 11 •

Leaders, stop accidentally scaring your team

"Painting a picture" by being concrete and specific is usually good. But when you're talking about negative ideas, you may want to be abstract and vague…

Jun 4 •

May 2025

When too much CYA backfires

Some operators speak in a way that's overly CYA (cover your ass) as a defensive tactic to prevent getting into trouble if things go wrong. Here's why…

May 28 •

Good struggle vs bad struggle

Not all struggle leads to personal growth. Learn to distinguish between good struggle vs bad struggle, so you can invest your emotional energy in the…

May 21 •

People judge the average of your achievements, not the cumulative

Mentioning too many items can actually reduce your overall perceived value.

May 14 •

What you give airtime to will expand

Successful operators intentionally direct their recipients' attention. Focus less on what you can't do, and more on what you can do.

May 7 •

April 2025

Why high performers make assertions: The difference between insights, suggestions, and assertions

An insight is just a starting point. The rare, courageous thing to do is to develop an assertion, i.e. a hypothesis and point of view that answers "so…

Apr 30 •

You are wasting your warm intros

Your note sucks because you don't sound sincere. Do these 6 things to make your note more persuasive before you hit send.

Apr 23 •

7 Phrases I use to make giving feedback easier for myself

Here are phrases I often use when sharing feedback because it makes it easier for me to speak openly and quickly, and encourages my recipient to take…

Apr 16 •

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