Wes Kao's Newsletter

Wes Kao's Newsletter

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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.
 • 
Wes Kao
10
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.
 • 
Wes Kao
16
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…
 • 
Wes Kao
3

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…
 • 
Wes Kao
8
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…
 • 
Wes Kao
9
People judge the average of your achievements, not the cumulative
Mentioning too many items can actually reduce your overall perceived value.
 • 
Wes Kao
8
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.
 • 
Wes Kao
5

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…
 • 
Wes Kao
17
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.
 • 
Wes Kao
5
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…
 • 
Wes Kao
11
My new episode on Lenny's Podcast
We cover some of my best frameworks for communication tactics used by top 1% performers
 • 
Wes Kao
2
Part II: Nuances when using the "inverted but" technique
5 nuances to keep in mind when you apply this tactic, based on common questions from other readers.
 • 
Wes Kao
© 2025 Wes Kao
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