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I heard from a former coworker that someone who predated both of us at the company (i.e. had been there over a decade) got fired after asking for clarification about a very obvious contradiction between two (presumably AI written) slides from a new executive at an all-hands meeting.

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Q&A at all hands meetings is a trap to fire people who don't drink enough kool-aid.

Do not, under any circumstances ever ask a question other than "gee golly sir, you sure are smart, how do I grow up to be like you".

I certainly would never have the guts to do something like that, but on the other hand, I think people like that are very valuable for anyone who actually cares about real feedback. Evidently in this case (and probably in most cases) that doesn't include the executives, but as someone who doesn't have a lot of confidence in his ability to notice changing headwinds in a large company until there are very visible effects, his sacrifice probably would have been a much-needed wakeup call for me if I were still there.

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