Leaders, this is my regular warning about the emails you send. But no matter how much I mention it, leaders I know continue to send out the most sensitive, inappropriate, critical, and sometimes destructive information in emails. I saw a dangerous email conversation recently about a legal issue that involved sexual harassment. The sender wasn’t guilty (he was the guilty person’s boss), but he was sharing with a colleague information via email that legally shouldn’t have been shared with the public.
A nonprofit leader fired an employee via email. The employee then used the email to sue the organization and force the leader to step down.
A CEO criticized a colleague to a friend – and it was pretty explicit.
A pastor actually responded to a woman in his church who sent him a very provocative email. It happens so often that I dedicated an entire chapter to it in my new book “Church on Trial: How to Protect Your Congregation, Mission, and Reputation During a Crisis.”
