I have been really interested in the Cloudflare layoffs because I knew there was so much more to the story. This is fascinating. We are living through a true transformation in how businesses operate.
Cloudflare CEO Prince on how AI changes who gets laid off first:
Two weeks ago I laid off more than 20% of my workforce. I didn’t do it because Cloudflare is struggling. We posted record revenue growth, have strong free cash flow and are adding an unprecedented number of customers around the world. I did it because business is changing, and to win the future, Cloudflare needs to change with it.
We haven’t found another example in U.S. business history of a public company growing at more than 30% that laid off more than 20% of its workforce. Yet what we did is likely going to become the norm over the next year. This is a story about artificial intelligence, but executives and commentators are misunderstanding how it will disrupt business and who will be affected.
AI isn’t coming for builders or sellers, but it is coming for measurers. Tireless, independent, efficient and available, AI systems can now measure an organization with a level of objective detail and precision that was previously impossible even for the best employees.
For Cloudflare, internal audit previously picked a handful of business risk areas to scrutinize each quarter. Now we’re moving to a system in which every business risk is audited continuously. We’re closing our books faster. We’re making fewer mistakes and catching the ones we do more reliably. And, as CEO, I’ve never had better tools to measure exactly how the business is performing, including identifying our rising stars.
The vast majority of those we laid off last week were measurers. We cut middle managers across the organization because AI allows us to have more direct reports per manager while still measuring and mentoring our teams effectively.
We consolidated our operations functions into a single group that can support teams across the business, using AI to gain specific expertise when needed. We significantly reduced our marketing team, which, like in most companies, was teeming with measurers. Across our finance team, we found opportunities to consolidate and automate.
We received almost a million applicants for 1,111 paid internships this summer. The interns we hired are extremely qualified and AI-native. They’re all builders or sellers, and we expect that the majority will get full-time offers.
You may not have a title but if you influence and impact another person then you are a leader! I shared this truth recently to business students at High Point University.
Like most people they don’t see themselves as a leader but the truth is everyone leads someone at some point and if you can influence someone you can lead them in a positive way.
So make sure you feed yourself with positivity so you can feed others!
Technological innovation can be a form of participation in the divine act of creation. It carries an ethical and spiritual weight, for every design choice expresses a vision of humanity. The Church therefore calls all builders of #AI to cultivate moral discernment as a fundamental part of their work—to develop systems that reflect justice, solidarity, and a genuine reverence for life.
In advance of a show opening for Glass Beams at The Caverns, Nashville’s Luke Schneider talks with Sean Maloney about the expanding horizons of pedal steel. https://t.co/wZ8h54H5hl
"My message would be this: you're gonna suffer through one or two things in your life, the pain of discipline or the pain of disappointment if you don't have discipline."
This morning on #SaturdaySessions, a first-time pairing of Grammy winners and bluegrass giants Billy Strings and Chris Thile.
For the first time ever as a duo, here's @BillyStrings and @christhile with "I've Been All Around This World."