#badleadership

I've been "out" for awhile now and while I do believe there's value in the brands...and there's a host of great, talented people there...it is, as it stands, a sinking ship and one not worth staying on. It will for sure get worse before it gets better...and "better" might mean just a little bit better not thriving. You have a leadership team at this point that is swamped by arrogance, short-term incentives and a lack of understanding of people, team, engagement and leadership...the things that actually will grow the company long-term.
Too much debt. Sacrificing too much to protect dividend. Macro pressures. Bad leaders. A strategy that probably would work but requires a focus that isn't there. Cutting the wrong people and teams at the wrong time.

This post deserves its own thread. Found at @q4+1kbdjtt9e.

I keep getting dragged into so-called alignment meetings that reveal absolutely nothing. Hours upon hours of buzzwords and vague reassurance with no real clarity. It feels like they are delaying bad news and hoping we do not notice how nervous the managers look.

They watched the company being burned to the ground and really didn't care.

They watched the arrogance about a superior network permeate almost the entire company, to the detriment of sales.

They really could give a sh$$ about the employees. They just want their bod fees and options.

They'll do anything for a short term stock pump, even if it means sacrificing people and destroying lives. Here's a clue, less revenue, less customers, less support, less of everything, including the stock price.

They really don't know anything about the actual business, but they're bringing in somebody who's been watching this burn for 7 years and because he was at virgin mobile and is tied in with the AI world he'll know what to do.

Hatchet a$$ can tell jokes, act like he's some cowboy, talk b.s. about how this was needed (he's responsible) and really not care about how many lives he's absolutely destroyed, all he cares about is the millions he continues to make.

They okayed mass layoffs on conference calls, they okayed destroying entire organizations, they talk about customer service but let key people be thrown away, I'm sure those customers are really happy about it (they're not.)

Some people being forced out thank the company for blah, blah, blah, heck to that, F$$$ the board, F$$$ hatchet, and F$$$ anybody who's talking about so-called survivor's guilt; that's a bunch of b.s. and shows what a huge hypocrite and a$$hole you really are, you still have a job (for now.)

F$$$ the board, hatchet, and all those mo--n's who think this is a good thing, it's really not.

How did we get the worst CIO in not only out industry, but in the country? A used car salesman would do a better job. At least he might have a shot at convincing us of the lies being told. He must have wrecked GM IT. He makes BB look like a super hero.

The French cable operator behaves like a slow-motion corporate pratfall that Inspector Clouseau himself would applaud? Every time I turn away, they slip on another banana peel, fall down an elevator shaft, and somehow manage to set the building on fire on the way down.
The Case: Does your dog bite?
Altice USA has filed an antitrust lawsuit against several major lenders including Apolo Capital, Ares Management and BlackRock accusing them of forming a cartel that has frozen the company out of the credit markets.
Let me restate this:
A company buried in debt is suing lenders because the lenders...don't want to lend it more money. A Decade of French Stewardship:
Altice didn't just show up one day.
They bought Suddenlink and Cablevision a decade ago, and then managed it with the precision and discipline of a French road crew on strike.
The French love of hierarchy, bureaucracy, and central planning collided with two gritty American cable operators and the result was...this.
Ten years of shrugging, hand-waving, and "we will study zee matter carefully," all while the infrastructure aged like Camembert left out in August.
Now, after torching the balance sheet and alienating customers, Altice has concluded that the real problem is...the finance bros.

Dan is doing what needs to be done to fix years of bad leadership and turn the company around. He’s the real deal.

Human Capital had a meeting yesterday and to say that it showed the firm is going nowhere. Over 10 years and none of the HC leadership has ever been any good but if we are trying to "Project 2030" what is this? SM has no direction, just all over the place and the new structure makes no sense to anyone. On the Zoom the usual suspects who kiss up everywhere they go were doing the fake cheering but behind the scenes everyone is like "what is this?"
We have a GP over wellbeing, when is the last time you saw something come from wellbeing?? There are like 4 GP's in talent, two "shared?" for the HR Managers, a GP for inclusion when I thought we got rid of DEI. Just, stupid. How is SM helping PP make decisions about plagues like DC when she can't make her own decisions? This place is going down fast, can't wait for the next VSP I am out of here before the whole place burns down.

Buy for a dollar, sell for fifty cents, and create a trail of debris with wherever you go. Like sending in Andrew Dice Clay and Maitland Ward to the Baptist church to give sermons and organize the socials. Bernie Madoff will handle the collection plate and funds.

Franco seems to think Nick Jonas is going to save us! To move fashion watches again we need three things: Fossil must lead in innovation, clearly prove value (quality + price), and consistently deliver. Right now it’s a train-wreck with poor leadership, no positioning, and zero value.

The consultants (notably Laks) obviously lack watch/jewelry and supply-chain experience and have replaced a once rock-solid unique supplier base with inferior vendors, creating an operational disaster. Bottom line is that without a rapid and decisive reset, we’re sinking!

VZ paying him over $60m for him to sip coffefe and make jokes to the entire company

• it’s unacceptable to start a meeting at 10:31 instead of 10:30 but runs over in current meeting
• talks about silos and every single thing in this company is siloed
• culture is at its worst because Sam Hammock- get rid of her
• customer service is bad across all companies- it’s literally the most simple answer- stop putting non English speakers in customer service roles
• about time we do away with not hiring / promoting outside of NJ or TX - but will we hold HR accountable for putting that new policy in place
• I do agreed with what he said about us not winning and doing poorly but in all honestly, it’s leaderships fault for where we are. When will leadership be held accountable?

Dan telling jokes and stxpid stories - in the ALL hands - while we are all freaking out of the future and so many lives being impacted. This is so unwelcomed.

Dude - you as a board were s failure - VZ leaders are just clowns - following the board and now you keep a while company to do a seinfeld sequel clown show 🤬

Reposting this comment someone posed it. Right on! Such a clown that hatchet man

Is this guy living in La-la land? Satisfying customers? For years customers have been complaining thar VZ is super expensive. While TM proivded a flat rate bill, VZ’s bills are never the same. The arrogance of VZ leadership and the board bite us all.

So their best solutions was: Fire 13k of our peers. This is all BS

What is Dan even talking about in this all hands?? He seems so unprepared and is just talking in circles... he hasn't said one useful thing and is just patting the useless execs on their backs.

Those in management circles what are you hearing about the quiet layoffs going on? Management seems intent on making things so bad for employees with the wirthless 4 days in office, benefits cuts and sheer arrogance from leaders. This American company doesn't care about America anymore. Can we outsource our CEO?

CEO Dennis Mathew’s said TWO weeks ago that the Optimum name is more than a name change, it’s who we are and where we are going, and that the organization was deepening its commitment to customers, employees, and the communities it serves. LOL. What a lying sack of 💩. Guy said that knowing this was happening. He can never be trusted again. Management’s word is meaningless. Hapless man, garbage company.

If they are doing layoffs DBO needs to go. A complete bureaucratic nightmare TN has created.

After years of foisting your su-kage onto SH&A, you are taking the golden parachute in a testament to the clear lack of leadership ability and lack of qualifications you brought to a once mighty division, leaving the group wallowing in debt to the tune of almost $800,000,000 to Blackstone, no clear goals and a culture of pettiness and obsequiousness.

Thanks for the memories and the sh---y raises.

I got let go last month and it still feels unreal. All the mistakes are made at the top, but it’s us who always get hit. Meanwhile, senior management keeps doing their thing and takes zero responsibility. Hard work counts for nothing until they need someone else to blame.

I work in new team, we deliver "nothing" because PO talk like he is on dr-gs changing his mind every second week. Moreover he is micromanaging us not to do stuff, it feels like he don`t want us to deliver this and prove idea was ....

I was bored last sprint so I did more than a task which would my high school kid do to experiment. As a result I got to listen to a "talk" for "doing wrong stuff". At same time we have a guy in team which delivers ZERO and its fine.

I am starting to hate software dev as I am not even allowed to do anything any more. Like I wanted to be engineer to build things, have solutions to help some with something, not to sit 50% of my day on meetings and deal with architects which cant even write hello world and their git is totally EMPTY, but they can say AI AI AI... and agentic AI.

I did not receive a single valuable training in the "research" field we are doing, but my training backlog is full of useless trainings about nothing like that AI joke we got inspire shout out recently :D.

I am starting to think to quit without other job, because most I hate in my career is when I can't do work because it make others look bad.

last day 2/20.... i have like 15k vesting 3/1... complete stab in the back.

So systems will never get better check
Executives will not get cut
Bad decision makers will get bonuses
Hard working average employees will get riffed doesnt matter how hard you work. So this pig has got lipstick a dress and makeup & you all still brownnose. Theres no growth here or ever was its the same people holding the same titles and let me guess what religion is dan we always pick the worst times & worse people.p

I feel like the leadership in this company is so confused about how to run a good healthcare company and it starts from the top. Sarah London is not a good leader and she needs to go.

At this point CV is polished, will bide my time. Still putting in work but only until something that looks better comes up. Thankful to be on the ship but this place has given and taken so much, the new lack of leadership is literally ki-ling me. Management pushes down to empty suits, No direction given. When you push you get more problems and politics. When performance suffers they blame the little people and give out sh---y pay and reviews. Can’t change anything at my level. Only way to survive mentally is to stop caring.

I read that when Schwab wants you to quit they start write ups and the compliance team starts questioning your every move even if you are doing nothing wrong.

Eventually Schwab sits you down and asks you to resign or else they mark your licenses.

This feels like blackmail, how should one navigate through this situation and how should one answer probing questions from compliance and management?

Or how to run it. Things have improved a little bit since the 2018 to 2022 fiasco, but it's still more than clear how far out of their depth the leadership is.

How many of you agree that one of the first signs a company's leadership is beginning to fail, from top to bottom, is when feedback is disguised as praise (so you have a chance to keep your job and not be targeted in retailation) and true collaboration is nothing more than an echo- chamber to stoke egos?

Is this the new norm for most American companies? It sure seems so.

They say they are going to change, but dear God in heaven when is one iota of change for the better going to happen?
This is like the worst bad relationship your parents told you about.
They say they are going to communicate more… they don’t. When they do it’s more words, less action.
They have made you lose a lot of good friends aka coworkers, for reasons you still have no idea of. There are still way too many bosses.
So help me if someone tries to say they are going to bring Tar-jay back I am going to scream. It’s over. It’s like Mean Girls and Fetch. Stop trying to make it happen. These are NOT your guests anymore. Why can you not understand this?
And speaking of not understanding your guests, you really had a great idea
with the grab bags, but you failed. Aside from the winners, I cannot even fathom who would be impressed or happy with what was in that bag. There is better and more sh-t presently in my vehicle than what was in that bag. And you hyped it up, to our guests. Who waited for it, thinking it was something great! You couldn’t even load it with snacks? A $5 gift card? Jesus anything? My kids birthday gift bags are better and we are poor.
I feel like you are just sabotaging the company now with these decisions. Trying to tank all of us.
There are so many of us who still and who did bust their a-s for this company, and for what? THIS?!

Be real. Wells Fargo made money in up years and bad years. It was due to the various lines of business they had. It was a highly conservative and well balanced business plan. Norwest Bank, and then Wells Fargo, was a premier place to work and to put your trust. Until the new management and "new profit" centers were brought in. At that point, the bank, which had been steadily profitable, and a great place to work, began to break down. New managers, who's only thought was the latest FAD, were put in place. Accelerate that to today's situation, and you can see that Wells Fargo has become just another Citi, just another big corporation that is only organized to make money for shareholders. Many long time employees have left. Many have been terminated. Many have been laid off.
You can see where this is going. Fast forward to some unknown economic issue, and the bank is caught flat-footed. Losses. Huge losses. Due to new direction and lack of diversification. All straight line responsibility to the "new management" that have arrived, similar to locusts. Yes, locusts. You see, they bring their fellows. you know, the "yes men" who give good subservience but don't call out the risks. And then, everyone is surprised when the dominoes fall.
What a joke.

Hard to believe some of the latest managers are long term employee and have no clue about the basics of the oil and gas industry. Instead of the old managers from just a few years ago who would be in the field shoulder to shoulder with us, we now have managers that fly in from Houston and go to the field for 30min and brag about it on social media and in the townhalls.

Cuts are about squeezing out extra profit, plus a hefty dose of offshoring. They’ll hand us some clunky AI tool we have to babysit like a toddler, and we’ll spend half our time double-checking hallucinations and bad outputs. Yet they’ll still expect us to deliver the work of five people. It’s a convenient excuse, but it’s hardly convincing.

The toxic and emotionally abusive culture here starts at the very top and just trickles down. You basically have to unlearn everything you know about good business. It's like they have a playbook, and they're deliberately doing the exact opposite of every recognized best practice. It's demoralizing and makes doing good work impossible.

They don't value employees, and some of the tactics they're using to cut costs feel downright deceitful and unethical. If I could give them any advice, it would be to just put us out of our misery. These slow, constant layoffs where they keep cutting our best people are just torturous. If the plan is to ki-l the company, then get on with it instead of this slow, painful death march.

Pay for performance, not even close. The worst management I have ever seen. The worst methods and procedures I’ve ever seen. Horrible, horrible management from top to bottom.

This was posted on SAPs board here on thelayoff but it totally applies to us as well:

We work for a criminal enterprise full of self-righteous, borderline re--rded psychopaths.

Good luck talking to anybody at viabenefits to get healthcare questions answered.

Whenever something goes wrong, there's a mad dash to point the finger at another team. No one in management ever just owns a mistake. It's exhausting. On top of that, we all know we're being paid well below market rate, and the chance of getting promoted is basically zero. They wonder why morale is so low, but it's not exactly a mystery.

Should I worry about more layoffs this year? I'm thinking between Thanksgiving and Christmas, it'd be truly assholish of them to lay people off. Not that I wouldn't put it past them, but it'd come with some unwanted bad publicity. Am I too naive to think they care?

Bad enough after 30 years to get kicked to the curb as a high performer, but now they are starting to remove people from the Slack groups. Just another reminder of you are just a number. Couldn't wait until everyone is off the payroll, just keep ripping off the band aid again and again.