Flash Tags: Labeling the Intent of Every CEO Message
As you scale, tag every message with its intent so an offhand comment isn't executed as a mandate
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Time to result
- ~weeks to results
- Steps
- 3
- Confidence
- 85%
At scale, employees put the CEO on a pedestal and lock onto everything they say — an idle hallway musing gets built as a 'big initiative.' The fix is a rubric that tags each email or Slack message with its intent: a directive to do this week, a topic to discuss, or a mere FYI/thinking-out-loud.
Origin
Developed at HubSpot by co-founder Dharmesh Shah ('Dash') to solve the problem of management-team messages being over-interpreted as mandates.
Core principles
- 01As a company grows, people put the CEO on a pedestal they 'don't deserve' and lock onto casual remarks.
- 02An offhand 'it'd be cool if we had a product that…' can send someone home to build it because 'Brian wants this.'
- 03The CEO must be very careful and very repetitive about what they say — and explicit about how seriously to take it.
How to run it
- 1
Recognize the pedestal problem
Accept that at scale you no longer know everyone, and people over-weight your words — an idea shared while 'shooting the breeze' in a hallway can become a major initiative.
Watch out Without tags, every casual comment risks being executed as a directive, wasting effort on things you never actually prioritized.
- 2
Adopt an explicit intent rubric
Tag each message with how you want it received: (a) 'do this — get it done this week,' (b) 'this is something we should talk about,' or (c) 'FYI, I'm just thinking about it.'
Pro tip Add finer gradations where useful — e.g. a 'pleading' tag meaning 'I'm not telling you to do this, I'm just pleading that you do what I ask.'
- 3
Apply it consistently to email and Slack
Attach the tag to management-team emails and Slack messages so recipients never have to guess whether an idea is a mandate, a discussion starter, or a musing.
In the wild
Halligan describes chatting casually with employees and saying 'it'd be cool if we had a product that…' — and someone inevitably goes home, builds it, and tells others 'Brian wants this, this is a big initiative,' because at scale people lock onto whatever the CEO says.
→ HubSpot adopted Dharmesh's tagging rubric so every message carried its true intent, preventing musings from being executed as mandates.
Common mistakes
Assuming your words are read as-intended
At scale, an untagged casual comment is interpreted as a directive; failing to signal intent causes teams to build or reprioritize around things the CEO never actually asked for.
Being cavalier with offhand remarks
Because people put the CEO on a pedestal, careless hallway musings carry outsized weight — the CEO must be both careful and repetitive, not just tag messages after the fact.
Is it for you?
Best for
CEOs and senior leaders of growing companies whose casual remarks are increasingly treated as commands.
Not ideal for
Small, flat teams where everyone already reads the leader's intent accurately from context.
From the transcript
“somebody inevitably would go home and build that thing and be like, Brian wants this. This is a big initiative.”
“we needed to tag each email with how do you want me to get this done this week or is this something we should talk…”
“one of them is plea I'm pleading you to do I'm not telling you to do this I'm just pleading that you do what I…”
From the episode
Sequoia CEO coach: Why it’s never been easier to start a company, and never been harder to scale one
Brian Halligan (co-founder, HubSpot)