#advicetomanagement

Below are comments from TIAA employees about their failing partnership w/ACN. This is right from our sister board at The Layoff. A true harbinger of things to come.

@rk you need to have the concept of quality to implement quality control, something both Offshore and and Accenture team assigned to TIAA lack. Accenture is not this bad with other clients so TIAA got the worst of the lot, mostly because TIAA offshore running a lot of this has an extremely low bar. TIAA is going to lose in the long run just save some money now. His can the CEO/CTO NOT SEE THIS! SAD!!
12h ago by T is Bad
7 reactions (+7/-0) | Reply
Post ID: @ry+1m327nxmv
 +7 

•••
@jp never seen a partnership deal)this bad. Whoever orchestrated this atrocity should be fired..both at TIAA Management side and accentuare discovery team. Terrible, all the good TIAA employees and contractors left or did not consent to join Accenture, Accenture got the bad leftovers. I also heard that they are cutting hourly rates for contractors, that means more good ones are going to jump ships, reducing SLAs, quality even further.
1d ago by Anonymous
6 reactions (+5/-1) | Reply
Post ID: @md+1m327nxmv
 +4 

@gb it’s terrible. The ACN teams don’t even work in alignment and you join a call and it’s a new group of ACN teams that are clueless to what is being handed off to them. They give absolutely ridiculous timelines even after showing them the processes and testing requirements. They just throw out dates and demand you fill out their status tracker spreadsheets. They bang on the desk to try and show they are busy. Completely worthless partnership that is holding us back.
1d ago by Anonymous
13 reactions (+13/-0) | Reply
Post ID: @jp+1m327nxmv
 +13 

Yes, Ameriprise has experienced some high-profile advisor departures and industry attrition, though the firm maintains it has strong overall retention and a robust recruiting pipeline

It seems like there are senior leaders that peruse this site. If they were to ask your feedback about the upcoming org changes and layoffs what would be your recommendations?

Well, it’s here.

DO NOT TAKE THIS SURVEY.

And don’t reply to this with dimwitted comments about how you’re going to hammer them. They don’t care about your comments or your ratings. Couldn’t give less of a flying flip.

ALL THEY CARE ABOUT IS WHETHER YOU TAKE IT OR NOT. DON’T GIVE THEM THE WIN ON THIS.

Before the end of next week,you and the rest of your group will start receiving emails from your AD, Director, and VP urging your participation. Do not cave. Despite what you read here, they cannot tell who has and who has not completed the survey. They get a roll up report showing the percentage of their team that has participated.

I know many bootlickers will take the survey and leave glowing comments. I know many dimwits will still think their low ratings and scathing comments matter, and will take it.

I am just hoping for the lowest participation numbers ever.

the world is moving so fast, especially at AI? why work for a wireless company who claimed they can do a PC. Look what the FU.

A piece of advice to those looking for another job: find yourself a boss that is proficient in the job you’ll be doing. This is based on my experience in N&T where we would get a boss after every reshuffle that had not much experience in the department they were taking over. They may have been a hard worker that did well in their previous position but that’s not enough to take on a completely different function. Amateur hour just doesn’t cut it and it creates a very awkward situation where you have to correct your boss or watch them make stupid decisions because they don’t know any better.

A boss that’s proficient in the job you’ll be doing can also provide guidance and help make correct decisions when there are multiple ways to skin the cat. I could never get a clear answer from my boss when I would present two valid options with the pros and cons of each. I would get a non-answer like “We have to do what’s right!” Like duh! Thanks for that enlightening answer!

To XOM managers: I do not care who put you in those positions or how you got them. Just follow three basic rules, keep three zippers closed: your pocket, your mouth, your pants. Simple.

Penny said (and I’m paraphrasing) “We are in the business of serving clients, and trust is our currency.” Well, guess what? That applies in the Field as it does in the Home Office. And the thing about trust is… it’s hard to gain, easy to lose. How does one lose trust? By over promising, under delivering, by saying you will do something and don’t do it, by putting your faith in things that aren’t real. And we are in a critical point in the firm’s history, where this currency matters more than ever. Don’t be dazzled by pretty slides. There’s a common saying in the consulting world … “death by a thousand slides”. Why does this phrase exist? Slides will not bring you the clarity you need. Nor CoPilot. Only by asking the right questions to trustworthy people, who love you and the firm enough to tell you the truth, not necessarily what you want to hear. Go and see how work is actually being done. Don’t assume your (implicit) assumptions are right. That’s how initiatives fail and organizations walk off a cliff. Read the book “Confronting Reality”. I don’t want us to end up in that book in a future edition. Learn how organizations fail in their transformational efforts…. Blockbuster, Kmart, BlackBerry… In some cases, the fall came swiftly. Blockbuster was successfully, until suddenly it’s not. In other cases, these organizations are a shadow of their formal self. Think BlackBerry. Not because they don’t have smart people. They all do, incredibly smart people. It’s because the smart people assume they’re right, and they stopped listening to the people closest to the work. It’s because they’re planning in ivory towers, completely ignoring the battlefield below. And the people bringing them the “news” so they can make adjustments to their strategies are n steps removed from the field. Watered down intel, like the telephone game we played as a kid. And guess what? It’s all entirely predictable.

HR is obviously there to protect the company, not me, so I am trying to figure out if I should go straight to senior leadership or if I have to go through my manager first and risk getting shut down before I even get heard. I'm avoiding saying what the subject is for anonymity purposes.

DO NOT take the engagement survey starting next week. Most companies (truist included) care more about low participation than low scores. Most companies believe that any response to these surveys indicates that you still believe your voice is heard and cared about. This is well documented online and I’ve seen it personally.

A manager of mine a few years ago (who was terrible and eventually fired for misconduct) had very high engagement scores. Much higher than the company average. And that’s because only ONE person on a team of over 20 people took the survey (I personally think the only teammate that took the survey was the one the manager was sleeping with, but I could be wrong). HR and higher management got involved specifically because of low participation and our concerns were finally addressed.

The participation rate has been steadily going down throughout Truist for years. Make it plummet and they’ll actually start taking notice. That’s why we get emails saying “hey guys we still only have xx% of people who have taken the survey. It’s available to take for a couple more days. Make sure to take it and make your voice heard blah blah blah.”

Silence is the sound of dissent and dissatisfaction, and that makes people in charge VERY nervous.

Obviously things are good in the US with this many hires last month yet Dell is in another major canning spree...

We continue to do great numbers too quarter after quarter. Makes no sense other than MD getting bad advice from JC to cut cut cut.

I highly doubt either of them know whats actually happening in the trenches.

If we have to pre-submit questions, it's not an AMA. That last A stands for "anything", meaning your filtering of submitted questions removes the "anything" from the "Ask Me".

There is no better way to communicate to employees that you DGAF about employee-relevant questions.

I am amazed that host governments are letting ExxonMobil continue to do less and less in terms of local benefits. Jobs that could be local are now in India. How is this allowed?

If this does not happen, reach out to your representative

Part of the Cigna / HealthSpring acquisition here. Over at Cigna part of the business strategy was buying companies and quickly incorporating them into our BO operations. On the other hand, HCSC seems like a kid in fourth grade trying to figure out a college level manual. How are we still waiting on decisions here almost two years in? When will Igor come up with a definitive direction around AI? The townhall where he said "100 years ago, people didn't know they wanted a car, they just wanted faster horses" was a fancy little tidbit. Well, Igor, using your own analogy, we don't want a car or a horse, we just want to start moving. When are you going to get out of the way and let the team race forward?

We were at 245 summer st. The room was vp’s on up. Lots of mba, egghead types. We were talking about updates to a platform, to include new offerings. I had spent 8 years on the phones and got a new gig. I felt like I could adequately describe and represent the associates who are on the front lines.

The conversation was about logical progression and workflow of a call. I insisted that not all calls flow a logical progression but many times clients get emotional. I cited several examples and case studies to make my points. The discussion became difficult, especially for this one svp bonehead who’s claim to fame was he was smarter than everyone. By the end of the meeting, because of time, the decisions made were to not change a single thing because the logic was good and the back office would just need to get more efficient.

These eggheads do not know what they’re talking about and think they’re superior to the associates.

They want to hire a “confident attorney” to be the enemy of the employees. Yep, they aren’t kidding when they say they hate us. Instead of hiring for an “Employee Advocate”, they want another yes-man who will protect corrupt executives.

https://external-canoncareers.icims.com/jobs/34803/employment-counsel/job

If Verizon actually rebadges this group, that would be a wild decision 😂

How are you going to hand the keys to your network over to a vendor and expect that to end well?

Dan or any Verizon executives lurking in here might want to take a few notes from what happened to Sprint when Ericsson was running their network. We all saw how that story played out. 😂

But hey… I’m sure outsourcing the people who actually know and maintain the network will really help with that whole “delighting the customer” thing. 🤡📶

To ensure fair and objective decisions, review system/login data for attendance, leave, WFH, and actual work activity. Use verified records and job impact rather than assumptions or personal relationships.

...and please, please, stop using the above phrase in modern emails. With respect; I get it, it was once a common phrase. Those years are long over.

Peace.

A group of prominent British actors, including Benedict Cumberbatch, Alan Cu----g, and Benedict Wong, have penned an op-ed urging the UK government to oppose the Paramount-Warner Bros. merger. They express concerns that the consolidation of power could negatively impact independent film financing, news publishing, and the livelihoods of British film and television workers. The actors have formally requested that the UK Culture Minister investigate the potential consequences of the deal. While the European Commission has approved the merger with restrictions, it faces ongoing scrutiny in the United States. The UK minister has indicated a willingness to engage with the matter.

London, United Kingdom

https://www.netflixjunkie.com/hollywood-news-benedict-cumberbatch-alan-cu----g-and-benedict-wong-lead-opposition-to-paramount-warner-bros-merger

Is there an avenue to file a class action lawsuit against EchoStar on behalf of all the affected since 2025? Something Charlie wouldn’t expect would be a smoking g-n, and hit him where it hurts: the spectrum money he has stashed?

Like, some ominous but effective case. Example: in this film The Firm, the whistleblower simply filed “wire fraud” as the case.

Let’s start the talk here. I believe these are the types of billionaires that are meant to fall from the sky. Charlie is a mean, egomaniacal person who enjoys rising above while watching people below him suffer.

Let’s align and discuss possibilities here.

Of course, there will still be the Starlink stock pumpers on here who think we are all flat earthers.
Looks like someone coached Dan about how Starlink CANNOT take away from the terrestrial networks in a very substantial way. Physics!

Per Dan, in the article:
In terms of broadband competition from satellite providers, “it is very difficult for satellite providers to provide a service that's even close to what we can provide with our broadband services,” he said.
He walked through the basics of satellite beams and what they can offer by way of speeds versus ground-based systems.
“We’re like 100 times to 1,000 times more efficient,” he said. “Our speeds and capabilities are much higher, and it’s basically not possible because of physics. Not because of execution, but because of physics.”
The majority of Verizon’s service revenue is in urban and suburban geographies. He acknowledged that satellite does have a total addressable market (TAM) that’s probably between 6 million and 8 million homes in the U.S., primarily in very rural geographies where building out a terrestrial network is cost prohibitive.

“It doesn’t pencil out,” he said.

https://www.fierce-network.com/wireless/verizon-ceo-shuts-down-starlink-mvno-talk-touts-strong-q2-comeback

We have too many in-house counsels and law function leaders. I have seen 2-3 in house counsels in some internal meetings. They are tripping over themselves!

The function overall and within business lines has put in place “zipper model” org charts to align with similar hierarchy positions in other functions. This includes 1:1 law-to-business leader relationships. THAT IS NOT NEEDED post 2025!!!!! Other functions have rationalized cost, often serving multiple businesses (what we saw pre-2025). The zipper model is seen not just with the Law org chart, but also on how Law leaders expect to be advised by their senior counsels within a business. They want to be spoon fed, often to participate on an equal footing with other function colleagues.

Also, have you seen how Law function internal approval is sought? Tons of leaders are copied or addressed on emails. These are ornate emails that cut and paste from emails used in the business. It’s a who’s who of the function on these emails.

Law function work appears MOSTLY administrative and coordination in its nature. They are experts in keeping their function leadership aware of issues and managing the real work performed by others, including external counsel.

Can we make real and lasting change here?

AI is not a strategy

Too many dead weight G10+ doing G7 work. Don't even get me started on fellows.

Hope in one hand and relieve yourself in the other and see which one fills up first.

And repeat the mantra "I am a close personal friend of John Donovan".

“You can’t shrink your way to greatness”

• Seth Godin

Dan, you have highly competent employees, functionally adequate systems / processes / tools, a strong band, and multiple engagement points with most customers. Try reimagining the customer experience and lifting walletshare capture through the assets you have. Reducing your human capital now is just the junkie’s next fix but cannot, logically, achieve increased shareholder value. you know it, we know it.

If you work for belk don’t drink the kool-aid served by upper management and executive leadership, people of a certain age will understand this reference.

From Bloomberg (paywalled)

“You really don’t need the latest cutting-edge, incredibly expensive model to summarize an analyst report,” Chief Financial Officer Jeremy Barnum said on an analyst call Tuesday after the firm reported its second-quarter results. “So the idea is use the right model for the right purpose.”

bwahahahahahaha.

Charlie Scharf: oh yeah? Hold my beer while I tokenmaxx.

The main problem is that our government contracts public traded corporations such as the above mentioned to take tax payer government funds and allow these companies to make administrative decisions on what claims get paid or not. The main issue with that is these are profit-based corporations required to put shareholders profits before members. The Medicare & Medicaid Members are secondary to them in regards to being their customer. The shareholders are their priority customer.

It is time for the government to drop these public stock traded health insurance corporations and find a way to contract with not-for-profit, non-public-stock-traded, companies to administer Medicare Advantage and Medicaid.

Any medical device company that thinks AI is here to disrupt it are foolish and wrong. AI is here to disrupt mo--ns like every EVP and SVP at this company that can’t read or reply to emails on time and it’s here to definitely stay in manufacturing and will be utilized in imaging but when it comes therapy, AI will ki-l people and GM is the biggest id--t for not understanding this basic thing. Cathworks will prove it that GM acquired a fu--ing science project while scientia will pay dividends for years to come

I'm constantly asked to train new hires, but I have way too much on my own plate to be doing that. It's not part of my job and I can't keep up with my own work when I'm spending time explaining things to people who should have been better trained before they started. And the new hires are just as frustrated because they're not really being trained properly. They're just expected to pick things up as they go. This is entirely management's fault and they need to do something about it.

Zayo signed a major contract with Mastec. Lord help us.

Motley Fool Money recently warned investors about "AI washing." Companies may falsely attribute layoffs to artificial intelligence. Many job cuts stem from pandemic overhiring or reduced demand. Genuine AI transformation starts with a clear business problem. Investors must verify specific, measurable AI impacts in company reports.

https://finance.yahoo.com/technology/ai/articles/expert-warns-companies-ai-washing-160407514.html

Watch and learn

https://youtu.be/5nbeGkLRSa8

My first move as pretend AT&T CEO would be pretty simple:

Stop chasing “transformational” nonsense and run the company like a telecom company. Wireless. Fiber. Business services. Network reliability. Customer service. Debt reduction. That’s it.

No media empire. No satellite TV fantasy. No “synergy” PowerPoint garbage. No paying billions for assets and then selling/spinning them off later at a loss.

The basic plan would be:

1. Aggressively pay down debt instead of trying to look clever.
2. Keep investing in fiber, because that actually fits AT&T’s core strengths.
3. Protect the network craft workforce, because contractors and outsourcing can save money short term but can wreck service quality.
4. Simplify management layers, because AT&T has always seemed ridiculously top-heavy.
5. Stop abusing loyal customers with confusing promotions that reward switchers more than longtime customers.
6. Make executive compensation depend on long-term debt reduction, free cash flow, network quality, and employee retention, not just stock-price optics.

And yeah, I’d probably cancel half the consultant contracts in the first week.

But the hostile takeover part might be tough. AT&T’s market cap is massive, and I’m currently a little light on the tens of billions needed to pull that off. Also, I suspect the board would object to my official turnaround slogan: “Stop Doing D-mb Sh*t.”

Although I’m no longer with Centene, I still care deeply about its mission and the people working to achieve it. That’s why I’m taking the time to write this.

One pattern I’ve seen across large organizations is the belief that the next framework, consulting engagement, or AI initiative will unlock better execution. Those things all have value. They bring fresh ideas, experience, and structure. But none of them can replace organizational clarity.

When priorities change faster than results can be measured, it becomes difficult to know what actually worked. Strategies get replaced before they can be fairly evaluated, and organizations end up changing multiple variables at the same time. At that point, you’re no longer learning from the strategy. You’re learning from the interruption.

From the individual contributor’s perspective, people stop asking, “Is this the right direction?” and start asking, ”How long until this changes again?” Eventually they stop optimizing for outcomes and start optimizing for adaptability. That’s not resistance to change. It’s a rational response to uncertainty.

The same challenge applies to outside consultants. They can bring experience, structure, and proven approaches, but they can’t create clarity where it doesn’t already exist. If priorities, success measures, and strategic direction continue to shift, even great recommendations struggle because the organization is still redefining the problem they were brought in to solve.

Landing the plane…

If I could offer one piece of advice, it would be this.

Create the conditions for success before looking for the next solution.

Define what success looks like.

Decide how you’ll measure it.

Give your managers and teams enough stability to execute.

Give the strategy enough time to produce meaningful results.

Then let the data, not the calendar, tell you what needs to change next.

Frameworks matter.

Technology matters.

Consultants matter.

• Employees matter most.*

Every reorganization, every strategy shift, and every new operating model is experienced by people who care deeply about the mission and genuinely want to do great work. When people lose confidence that today’s priority will still matter tomorrow, the organization loses something much harder to rebuild than a process. It loses trust.

To everyone still there, don’t lose sight of why you chose this work in the first place. Your knowledge, your compassion, and your commitment to members still matter. Those things don’t disappear because the organization is going through change.

I sincerely hope Centene succeeds. The mission is too important, and there are too many good people working every day to make a difference. My hope for leadership is simple: create the clarity, stability, and trust that allows those people to do what they’ve always wanted to do…serve members, support one another, and do their best work.

✌️

• AI helped me tighten the writing. The observations, opinions, and experiences are my own.*

3 weeks ago they warned of $140+ oil. Now we sit at $70.

Billionaire Michael Dell's "generous" donation to children's investment accounts is just another front in the deep state's war on self-reliance, and I have the conspiracy theories to prove it.
In a shocking turn of events that has absolutely nothing to do with the deep state’s insidious plot to indoctrinate our youth, billionaire Michael Dell has announced a $6.25 billion “donation” to fund so-called “Trump Accounts” for children. Coincidence? I think not. Let’s break this down, folks—because if you’re not questioning this, you’re already asleep at the wheel.

First off, “Trump Accounts”? Really? That’s what they’re calling them now? I’m sure the name is just a happy accident and not at all a calculated move to make conservatives warm up to what is clearly a socialist wealth redistribution scheme. $250 per kid? That’s barely enough to buy a single share of GameStop, and we all know the elites don’t want your kids learning about the free market. They’d rather they grow up dependent on government handouts—or in this case, billionaire handouts.

And let’s talk about the income cutoff: $150,000. That’s suspiciously specific. Why not $149,999? Because they needed a round number to hide the fact that this is really about tracking families. Mark my words, this is just another way for the globalists to catalog who’s “middle class” and who’s not. Next thing you know, they’ll be implanting microchips in these accounts—wait, actually, that’s probably already in the fine print.

But here’s the real kicker: 80% of Texas ZIP codes qualify. EIGHTY PERCENT. Folks, that’s not generosity—that’s an admission that the economy is rigged. If 80% of families are making under $150,000, then who’s hoarding all the money? Oh right, the same people “donating” it back to us like some kind of twisted charity tax write-off. Wake up, sheeple!

And of course, the urban elites in Austin, Dallas, and Houston are mostly excluded. Convenient, isn’t it? The very cities where the tech overlords and government puppets live get to opt out of their own socialist experiment. Meanwhile, the rest of Texas gets a measly $250 per kid—probably in digital currency so they can phase out cash and control your spending.

This isn’t philanthropy. This is conditioning. They’re training the next generation to rely on handouts instead of hard work. And by the time these kids grow up, they’ll be so used to government (or billionaire) intervention that they won’t even question it. Well, I’m questioning it. And you should too. Because if there’s one thing the elites hate, it’s people who can still think for themselves. Stay vigilant, patriots. The tofu-pushing deep state is always watching.