Be Impeccable, Choose Wisely

In 2013, PR executive Justine Sacco watched her life unravel in the time it took to complete an 11-hour flight. Before boarding in London, she tweeted to her 170 followers: "Going to Africa. Hope I don't get AIDS. Just kidding. I'm white!"

By the time she landed in Cape Town, her attempted joke had sparked global outrage, becoming the #1 trending topic on Twitter. Within hours, she had lost her job, and her name became synonymous with the perils of social media misjudgment.

Digital communication amplifies consequences at the speed of retweets. A private moment of frustration becomes a permanent digital scar. Technology has fundamentally altered how our actions ripple through the world.

The pattern repeats in everyday scenarios. A hasty Slack message creates workplace tension that festers in digital channels. A thoughtless social media comment resurfaces years later during a job search. An impulsive late-night email damages a relationship that took years to build. Technology amplifies your mistakes, preserves them, spreads them, and makes them searchable.