{"id":233703,"date":"2024-06-18T15:35:10","date_gmt":"2024-06-18T15:35:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/2024\/06\/18\/linda-yaccarino-shares-her-biggest-moment-of-imposter-syndrome-running-elon-musks-x\/"},"modified":"2025-06-25T17:16:47","modified_gmt":"2025-06-25T17:16:47","slug":"linda-yaccarino-shares-her-biggest-moment-of-imposter-syndrome-running-elon-musks-x","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/2024\/06\/18\/linda-yaccarino-shares-her-biggest-moment-of-imposter-syndrome-running-elon-musks-x\/","title":{"rendered":"Linda Yaccarino shares her biggest moment of imposter syndrome running Elon Musk\u2019s X"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> [ad_1]<br \/>\n<br \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/fortune.com\/img-assets\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/GettyImages-1975252153-e1718718918633.jpg?w=2048\" \/><\/p>\n<p>It was before the U.S. Senate that <a href=\"https:\/\/fortune.com\/company\/twitter\/\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"Go to https:\/\/fortune.com\/company\/twitter\/\" class=\"sc-80b85506-0 ovBKL\" rel=\"noopener\">X<\/a> CEO Linda Yaccarino joined bosses from the likes of Meta and TikTok to answer for how they would better protect children from sexual exploitation on their platforms. <\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Had Yaccarino, who had been in the top job at the Elon Musk-owned platform for half a year, known those few hours would be such a pivotal moment in her career, she may have volunteered to appear from the outset like Mark Zuckerberg and TikTok\u2019s Shou Chew\u2014rather than be compelled through a subpoena.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat was one of the most profound experiences of my life that taught me a lot of things,\u201d Yaccarino said on Monday, nearly six months after ultimately agreeing to testify as a witness.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\">\n<p><iframe title=\"Kicking Off Cannes Lions with Shelley Zalis and Linda Yaccarino\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/1OpS3x9t7nQ?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<p>Speaking in Cannes, where the advertising world\u2019s version of the Oscars are being held this week, Yaccarino revealed the experience on Capitol Hill helped her shed any nagging feeling she <a href=\"https:\/\/fortune.com\/2023\/07\/28\/elon-musk-twitter-rebrand-linda-yaccarino-harvard-bill-george\/\" target=\"_self\" aria-label=\"Go to https:\/\/fortune.com\/2023\/07\/28\/elon-musk-twitter-rebrand-linda-yaccarino-harvard-bill-george\/\" class=\"sc-80b85506-0 ovBKL\" rel=\"noopener\">hadn\u2019t earned the job<\/a> as head of X and did not belong there, a feeling commonly known as imposter syndrome.<\/p>\n<p>Going into the hearings, Yaccarino said she had only been at the company six months and therefore lacked what she called the \u201cdepth of knowledge\u201d and tenure enjoyed by her four male counterparts sitting beside her on the panel.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m not an engineer, I\u2019m not a founder and my natural kind of career-long upbringing was not in tech and social media,\u201d she said in a conversation with Shelley Zalis, founder and CEO of The Female Quotient. \u201cAnd by the way [I was] the only woman.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Yaccarino said she had been keen to share the work undertaken by X on her watch to better protect children on the platform, but wanted to do so with confidence. What helped was the feeling of encouragement and support she received along with trusting the process when it came to preparing, along with believing in her ability to communicate and articulate what X had been doing\u2014with the all important help of data.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat fueled me and fueled my confidence to be successful that day,\u201d said Yaccarino, who has faced criticism she\u2019s a <a href=\"https:\/\/fortune.com\/2023\/09\/28\/linda-yaccarino-code-conference-x-ceo-elon-musk\/?utm_source=search&amp;utm_medium=suggested_search&amp;utm_campaign=search_link_clicks\" target=\"_self\" aria-label=\"Go to https:\/\/fortune.com\/2023\/09\/28\/linda-yaccarino-code-conference-x-ceo-elon-musk\/?utm_source=search&amp;utm_medium=suggested_search&amp;utm_campaign=search_link_clicks\" class=\"sc-80b85506-0 ovBKL\" rel=\"noopener\">puppet CEO<\/a>, or has been set up by Musk to <a href=\"https:\/\/fortune.com\/2023\/05\/12\/twitter-ceo-linda-yaccarino-elon-musk-glass-cliff-female-leaders\/?utm_source=search&amp;utm_medium=suggested_search&amp;utm_campaign=search_link_clicks\" target=\"_self\" aria-label=\"Go to https:\/\/fortune.com\/2023\/05\/12\/twitter-ceo-linda-yaccarino-elon-musk-glass-cliff-female-leaders\/?utm_source=search&amp;utm_medium=suggested_search&amp;utm_campaign=search_link_clicks\" class=\"sc-80b85506-0 ovBKL\" rel=\"noopener\">take the fall<\/a> should the company fail.<\/p>\n<p>When asked by Zalis to highlight an example or two of the relationship she enjoys with Musk, Yaccarino cited the day the entrepreneur announced in May that he had hired a female CEO to run Twitter.\u00a0<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Excited to announce that I\u2019ve hired a new CEO for X\/Twitter. She will be starting in ~6 weeks!<\/p>\n<p>My role will transition to being exec chair &amp; CTO, overseeing product, software &amp; sysops.<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Elon Musk (@elonmusk) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/elonmusk\/status\/1656748197308674048?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"Go to https:\/\/twitter.com\/elonmusk\/status\/1656748197308674048?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"noopener\" class=\"sc-80b85506-0 ovBKL\">May 11, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>\u201cI think that was the best message I ever got of all time,\u201d she added.\u00a0<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The everything app that champions free speech<\/h2>\n<p>At the time, Yaccarino and Musk had been discussing his vision of moving away from Twitter as a 140 character messaging service. Instead, it would pivot towards a\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/fortune.com\/2024\/01\/09\/elon-musk-x-video-first-platform\/?utm_source=search&amp;utm_medium=suggested_search&amp;utm_campaign=search_link_clicks\" target=\"_self\" aria-label=\"Go to https:\/\/fortune.com\/2024\/01\/09\/elon-musk-x-video-first-platform\/?utm_source=search&amp;utm_medium=suggested_search&amp;utm_campaign=search_link_clicks\" class=\"sc-80b85506-0 ovBKL\" rel=\"noopener\">video-first platform<\/a>\u00a0offering\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/fortune.com\/2024\/02\/09\/elon-musk-x-calls-texts-phone-number-wwe-wechat\/?utm_source=search&amp;utm_medium=suggested_search&amp;utm_campaign=search_link_clicks\" target=\"_self\" aria-label=\"Go to https:\/\/fortune.com\/2024\/02\/09\/elon-musk-x-calls-texts-phone-number-wwe-wechat\/?utm_source=search&amp;utm_medium=suggested_search&amp;utm_campaign=search_link_clicks\" class=\"sc-80b85506-0 ovBKL\" rel=\"noopener\">audio calls<\/a>\u00a0and\u2014soon\u2014<a href=\"https:\/\/fortune.com\/2023\/09\/19\/elon-musk-twitter-charge-users-monthly-fee-bot-armies-wechat\/?utm_source=search&amp;utm_medium=suggested_search&amp;utm_campaign=search_link_clicks\" target=\"_self\" aria-label=\"Go to https:\/\/fortune.com\/2023\/09\/19\/elon-musk-twitter-charge-users-monthly-fee-bot-armies-wechat\/?utm_source=search&amp;utm_medium=suggested_search&amp;utm_campaign=search_link_clicks\" class=\"sc-80b85506-0 ovBKL\" rel=\"noopener\">online payments<\/a>, all\u00a0under the banner of championing\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/fortune.com\/2024\/04\/08\/elon-musk-brazil-censorship-judge-alexandre-moraes-twitter-files-jair-bolsanaro\/?utm_source=search&amp;utm_medium=suggested_search&amp;utm_campaign=search_link_clicks\" target=\"_self\" aria-label=\"Go to https:\/\/fortune.com\/2024\/04\/08\/elon-musk-brazil-censorship-judge-alexandre-moraes-twitter-files-jair-bolsanaro\/?utm_source=search&amp;utm_medium=suggested_search&amp;utm_campaign=search_link_clicks\" class=\"sc-80b85506-0 ovBKL\" rel=\"noopener\">free speech<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe scope of our ambition and the pace of the innovation at the company is like nothing I can describe to any of you. It\u2019s exhilarating, slightly exhausting, but it is an opportunity of a lifetime to watch it happening,\u201d said Yaccarino.<\/p>\n<p>Counter to what many critics expected and indeed Musk\u2019s own worst fears, X has\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/technology\/2024\/jan\/02\/x-twitter-stock-falls-elon-musk\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"Go to https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/technology\/2024\/jan\/02\/x-twitter-stock-falls-elon-musk\" rel=\"noopener\" class=\"sc-80b85506-0 ovBKL\">not gone bankrupt<\/a>\u00a0since Musk was\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/fortune.com\/2022\/07\/18\/elon-musk-twitter-bid-court-delaware-tesla-bot-spam-case\/?utm_source=search&amp;utm_medium=suggested_search&amp;utm_campaign=search_link_clicks\" target=\"_self\" aria-label=\"Go to https:\/\/fortune.com\/2022\/07\/18\/elon-musk-twitter-bid-court-delaware-tesla-bot-spam-case\/?utm_source=search&amp;utm_medium=suggested_search&amp;utm_campaign=search_link_clicks\" class=\"sc-80b85506-0 ovBKL\" rel=\"noopener\">forced<\/a>\u00a0under penalty of court to\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/fortune.com\/2022\/07\/13\/twitter-sues-elon-musk-13-fateful-tweets-being-used-in-court-to-force-takeover\/?utm_source=search&amp;utm_medium=suggested_search&amp;utm_campaign=search_link_clicks\" target=\"_self\" aria-label=\"Go to https:\/\/fortune.com\/2022\/07\/13\/twitter-sues-elon-musk-13-fateful-tweets-being-used-in-court-to-force-takeover\/?utm_source=search&amp;utm_medium=suggested_search&amp;utm_campaign=search_link_clicks\" class=\"sc-80b85506-0 ovBKL\" rel=\"noopener\">honor in full<\/a>\u00a0his contract to buy Twitter for $44 billion.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s survived a period where it\u00a0reportedly <a href=\"https:\/\/fortune.com\/2024\/03\/04\/former-twitter-executives-sue-elon-musk-x-severance-pay\/\" target=\"_self\" aria-label=\"Go to https:\/\/fortune.com\/2024\/03\/04\/former-twitter-executives-sue-elon-musk-x-severance-pay\/\" class=\"sc-80b85506-0 ovBKL\" rel=\"noopener\">refused to pay<\/a>\u00a0countless\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/fortune.com\/2023\/06\/22\/twitter-ceo-linda-yaccarino-elon-musk-accounting-nightmare\/\" target=\"_self\" aria-label=\"Go to https:\/\/fortune.com\/2023\/06\/22\/twitter-ceo-linda-yaccarino-elon-musk-accounting-nightmare\/\" class=\"sc-80b85506-0 ovBKL\" rel=\"noopener\">bills<\/a>, witnessed the proliferation of\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/fortune.com\/2022\/11\/11\/twitter-blue-checkmarks-offline-unavailable-elon-musk-8-dollars\/\" target=\"_self\" aria-label=\"Go to https:\/\/fortune.com\/2022\/11\/11\/twitter-blue-checkmarks-offline-unavailable-elon-musk-8-dollars\/\" class=\"sc-80b85506-0 ovBKL\" rel=\"noopener\">imposter accounts<\/a>\u00a0and eliminated the majority of its headcount (including even the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/fortune.com\/2023\/02\/27\/esther-crawford-sacked-twitter-exec-defends-going-all-in-for-elon-musk\" target=\"_self\" aria-label=\"Go to https:\/\/fortune.com\/2023\/02\/27\/esther-crawford-sacked-twitter-exec-defends-going-all-in-for-elon-musk\" class=\"sc-80b85506-0 ovBKL\" rel=\"noopener\">most dedicated<\/a>).\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Yaccarino even managed to steer the company ahead after Musk told former advertisers like <a href=\"https:\/\/fortune.com\/company\/disney\/\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"Go to https:\/\/fortune.com\/company\/disney\/\" class=\"sc-80b85506-0 ovBKL\" rel=\"noopener\">Disney<\/a> to \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/fortune.com\/2023\/11\/30\/elon-musk-x-linda-yaccarino-twitter-advertisers-free-speech-dealbook\/\" target=\"_self\" aria-label=\"Go to https:\/\/fortune.com\/2023\/11\/30\/elon-musk-x-linda-yaccarino-twitter-advertisers-free-speech-dealbook\/\" class=\"sc-80b85506-0 ovBKL\" rel=\"noopener\">go f*** yourself<\/a>\u201d, adding on Monday that in retrospect she\u2019d have taken the job again in a heartbeat.<\/p>\n<p>But the transition into a more lucrative video-first platform has been slow despite every attempt by Musk to stream his Diablo IV video gaming live to followers.\u00a0<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\u2018She smoked \u2019em\u2019<\/h2>\n<p>When Musk urged popular Twitch streamers to switch to X by attacking his Amazon-owned rival for its failure to police its content, he was\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dexerto.com\/twitch\/dream-alinity-more-roast-elon-musk-for-telling-twitch-streamers-to-switch-to-x-2732535\/\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"Go to https:\/\/www.dexerto.com\/twitch\/dream-alinity-more-roast-elon-musk-for-telling-twitch-streamers-to-switch-to-x-2732535\/\" rel=\"noopener\" class=\"sc-80b85506-0 ovBKL\">promptly ridiculed<\/a>\u00a0over his platform\u2019s\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/2024\/03\/07\/1235784919\/twitter-x-bots-social-media-elon-musk\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"Go to https:\/\/www.npr.org\/2024\/03\/07\/1235784919\/twitter-x-bots-social-media-elon-musk\" rel=\"noopener\" class=\"sc-80b85506-0 ovBKL\">infestation of bots<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Days later, X announced <a href=\"https:\/\/fortune.com\/2024\/06\/03\/does-x-allow-nudes-elon-musk-twitter-x-social-media-meta-instagram-facebook-onlyfans\/\" target=\"_self\" aria-label=\"Go to https:\/\/fortune.com\/2024\/06\/03\/does-x-allow-nudes-elon-musk-twitter-x-social-media-meta-instagram-facebook-onlyfans\/\" class=\"sc-80b85506-0 ovBKL\" rel=\"noopener\">its own change of course<\/a>\u00a0and reworded its terms of service to specifically permit sharing content not safe for work. It then subsequently\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/fortune.com\/2024\/06\/13\/elon-musk-x-no-more-likes\/?utm_source=search&amp;utm_medium=suggested_search&amp;utm_campaign=search_link_clicks\" target=\"_self\" aria-label=\"Go to https:\/\/fortune.com\/2024\/06\/13\/elon-musk-x-no-more-likes\/?utm_source=search&amp;utm_medium=suggested_search&amp;utm_campaign=search_link_clicks\" class=\"sc-80b85506-0 ovBKL\" rel=\"noopener\">eliminated any ability to see what posts users like<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>In other words, Yaccarino and her team still have a lot of work to do if X is indeed to become the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/fortune.com\/2022\/10\/05\/what-is-x-app-elon-musk-twitter-takeover-accelerant-for-wechat-rival\/?utm_source=search&amp;utm_medium=suggested_search&amp;utm_campaign=search_link_clicks\" target=\"_self\" aria-label=\"Go to https:\/\/fortune.com\/2022\/10\/05\/what-is-x-app-elon-musk-twitter-takeover-accelerant-for-wechat-rival\/?utm_source=search&amp;utm_medium=suggested_search&amp;utm_campaign=search_link_clicks\" class=\"sc-80b85506-0 ovBKL\" rel=\"noopener\">everything app<\/a>. Right now users only spend some 35 minutes a day on his platform, according to Yaccarino. While she believes that will \u201conly go up\u201d going forward once payments are rolled out starting in the U.S. market, that number is still far from the declared goal of users spending in her words \u201cmost of their lives\u201d on the platform.<\/p>\n<p>But her experience testifying alongside four peers on the issue of policing child grooming and sexual exploitation on social media helped boost her confidence to succeed in this task as well.\u00a0Interviewer Zalis of the Female Quotient was quick to agree: \u201cIf you actually watch the hearing, it was Linda and five [sic] dudes\u2014and she smoked \u2018em.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div data-cy=\"subscriptionPlea\">Subscribe to the Fortune Next to Lead newsletter to get weekly strategies on how to make it to the corner office. <a href=\"https:\/\/fortune.com\/newsletters\/next-to-lead?&amp;itm_source=fortune&amp;itm_medium=article_tout&amp;itm_campaign=next_to_lead\" target=\"_self\" aria-label=\"Go to https:\/\/fortune.com\/newsletters\/next-to-lead?&amp;itm_source=fortune&amp;itm_medium=article_tout&amp;itm_campaign=next_to_lead\" class=\"sc-80b85506-0 ovBKL\" rel=\"noopener\">Sign up for free<\/a> before it launches on June 24, 2024.<\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><br \/>\n<br \/>[ad_2]<br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/fortune.com\/2024\/06\/18\/elon-musk-linda-yaccarino-x-social-media-meta-tiktok-congress-cannes-lions\/\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[ad_1] It was before the U.S. Senate that X CEO Linda Yaccarino joined bosses from the likes of Meta and TikTok to answer for how<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":233704,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[149],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233703"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=233703"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233703\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/233704"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=233703"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=233703"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=233703"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}