Dear Jeff,
Whoa! What the heck happened with that New York Times article, man? Did you guys forget to give them all free Prime memberships or what? No offense, but I’ve seen more flattering articles about me and the Cruise-meister general.
Real talk though: What you’re doing over there is important, not just from a books perspective (P.S. Dianetics is still #8 in Religion & Spirituality > Other Religions, Practices & Sacred Texts—gunning for #1 but thanks, bro!) but in terms of shaping worker expectations. In all candor, the kind of stuff you’re getting a hard time for is exactly what all these hellfire-breathing SPs have been giving me all these years for Sea Org. I always tell them the same thing: Is the work easy? No. Is it fun? No. Am I sorry? I literally don’t know the meaning of the word. I had my assistant type it just now—that’s how much I don’t even know what it means. And neither should you.
I get that you’re doing the necessary PR moves, pretending you don’t know what all these whiners are talking about, blah blah blah, etc. I’ve been there. I’ve done that. What I’m proposing is this: Own it. Like LRH said: “The only time anyone has ever gotten into serious trouble was when he decided he could do nothing about something.”
I know you can’t sign these people to billion-year contracts the way I do (maybe you should look into calling Amazon a religion, LOL), but seriously, if you want to make the biggest, best company in the world, you can’t be bothered to take care of everybody’s wittle feewings. Same for me with trying to make the best religion—for me it’s the entire universe, but don’t worry, you’ll get there.
Seriously, though: Next time they bitch about sitting at their desks crying, tell them they should try using their broken fingers to wave good-bye to the child they’ll never see again without looking up from the bathroom floor they’re scrubbing. I know it might sound a little harsh to the so-called liberal media, but hey, we didn’t get into the bookselling business to win popularity contests, right?
Anyways, I know you’re busy, but I just wanted to say: Hang in there. I know it’s been a hard week, but guess what: It’s supposed to be hard sometimes. I don’t like to see anyone suffer (SPs notwithstanding, ha-ha), but I took a small measure of comfort when I read that article—or skimmed it, TBH, I don’t have all day—in the realization that you and I are exactly alike. Business is a lonely business, but it’s always nice to recognize a kindred spirit.
Call me maybe,
DM