What's up, everyone? This is Alex Lieberman, co-founder and executive chairman of Morning Brew.

Welcome back to Founders Journal, my personal audio diary, where I give you the business builder,

the tools you need to think better in order to build better,

whether that's building a business, a team, or a new product.

Today, I am talking about the secret killer of companies. Let's hop into it.

Gossip is a poison. It is the invisible weapon that kills companies from the inside.

It's hard to see. There's no easy way to stop it, and once it begins, it spreads like wildfire.

And the worst part about it, it is entirely preventable if you get ahead of it.

You see, gossip is a zero-sum game. It benefits you at the expense of someone else.

It's time spent gossiping instead of time spent being creative and collaborative.

It's time spent siloing information for a select few in the company versus creating transparency across the entire organization.

And while it's so dangerous, we can't be surprised that it's part of work culture.

For starters, it is a huge part of every day culture, and it's a huge business.

The entire tabloid journalism industry is built on gossip.

You have TMZ that was acquired last year by Fox for $50 million.

It's why Perez Hilton has millions of followers across social media.

And gossip and sensationalism is the cornerstone of a big part of media that's driven by clickbait and page views to elicit the Oh My God reaction from consumers.

I personally am not a fan of this type of journalism, but more importantly, I know for a fact that gossip within the context of work simply doesn't work.

Let's start by defining what it is and what it isn't because everyone has their own idea of what gossip is.

Gossip has two qualities.

First, gossip is saying something about someone with negative intent, meaning what you're saying is not helping them to grow, to feel happy, or to self-actualize in any way.

The second criteria, gossip is saying something about someone that you wouldn't be willing to share in the same way if the person was in the room.

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