On today’s HR Heretics, Kelli and Nolan debate radical workplace transparency: eliminating private Slack messages. They explore tensions between cultural openness, practical communication needs, and effective use of asynchronous tools.

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KEEP UP WITH NOLAN + KELLI ON LINKEDIN

Nolan: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nolan-church/

Kelli: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kellidragovich/

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For coaching and advising inquire at

https://kellidragovich.com/

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TIMESTAMPS:

(00:00) Intro

(00:13) The “No Private DMs” Rule

(01:04) First Reactions: How This Would Actually Work

(01:54) The Case for Transparency: Underground Slack Channels Are Toxic

(02:35) The Reality Check: Leaders Still Need Private Conversations

(03:42) Is Radical Transparency Just Performance Art?

(04:20) The Productivity Problem: Slack Surfing vs Getting Work Done

(05:11) Creating a “How We Slack” Document with Clear Rules

(06:15) Using Public Channels to Develop Holistic Leaders

(07:13) The Jensen Huang Model: Why He Doesn’t Do One-on-Ones

(08:12) Sponsors: Ethena | Metaview

(11:34) Hyper-Transparency from the CEO Builds Trust

(12:31) It All Comes Down to Judgment

(13:11) The Audio Message Revolution: Why Voice Beats Typing

(15:20) Good vs Bad Audio Messages: It’s About Sender Judgment

(16:15) The 10x Pace: Why Traditional Meeting Cadences Don’t Work Anymore

(17:34) Final Thoughts: Experiment with Your Communication Style

(17:46) Outro

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