#culture

I met a new SD at lunch this week who recently joined. The guy pulls no punches. Super smart I hope he won’t lose patience with this place. He isn’t afraid to say what all the engineers in the room are thinking that most SDs and VPs are too stupid to understand.

Twenty-four years in the same system — and what we celebrate is endurance, not progress. HR calls it loyalty. Most of us call it survival.

Look at that photo parade of executives. They’re not symbols of a healthy company — they’re evidence of what went wrong. These people are responsible for Verizon’s decline, not because of who they are, but because of what they failed to do. They traded competence for branding, strategy for slogans, and accountability for optics.

Upper management turned visibility into the goal. Titles grew; real responsibility shrank. While they polished personal brands and ran PR campaigns, the work that keeps the company running — the network, the customers, the finances — quietly eroded.

This isn’t a comment on gender or diversity. It’s about a leadership culture that values appearance over results. They didn’t inherit a broken company — they perfected how to hide failure. And now, as another round of layoffs nears, they’ll post about “resilience” while others pack boxes.

Smiles don’t fix towers, routing, or cash flow. The pictures tell the story better than any press release.

The people "leading" this company are some of the worst people I have ever worked with in my entire career.

When I started here, I thought I was joining a serious tech team. Turns out it is more like a finance group pretending to understand tech. The culture feels empty and the talent that used to make things run is mostly gone. It is strange to watch a once solid place lose its identity bit by bit.

Sometimes I look around and realize this place has turned into a waiting room for people hoping to reach retirement before the next round of cuts. The younger ones are already planning their exits and who can blame them? The middle group is stuck trying to decide if it’s worth holding on or if it’s finally time to jump ship before things get even worse.

Meanwhile, the executives keep cashing in and talking about strategic realignment while the rest of us carry the weight and worry about the next reorg. They’ll be fine no matter what happens. The rest of us are just line items on a spreadsheet waiting to be erased.

I know the usual peeps on here will say it is your fault for staying, but it does make me angry and sad how the EC and senior leaders show no humanity to employees. They may have tough business decisions (yeah, yeah, I know as a result of their stupidity) to make but they can’t be decent or kind at all. Basic stuff like asking how people are, 1-1 sessions, managers remembering your kids name, at the start of a conversation or meeting asking what people have been doing (before launching into their script) bla bla bla ….. it just normal human behavour. You do this with your neighbours at home so why can’t they manage it at work ??? Very sad 😞

Have you ever checked our hard-working leader’s Teams status. Check it right now. It’s 2:30 PM CT in Dallas yet it shows he has been away for 3 hours.

He is the CEO of a Fortune 50 company. I understand he may have business travel, but you can always login to the WiFi at the airport, plane, hotel, or pretty much wherever you are.

Also, if you ever check his status in the evening around 5 or 6, he always shows last seen 30 min ago, 1 hr ago, or 2 hrs ago.

So he takes long breaks during the day. And doesn’t work a minute past 4 PM. Yet myself and my colleagues are hard pushed clocking in 60+ hours to meet our bullsh-t convergence goal.

Guys, this guy only cares about himself. Only the best lifestyle that is possible for himself, nothing but the worse for his employees.

Rat has a history and quite a wild history.. look what is going on with ELV SLT

https://x.com/realmattforney/status/1976735339843580370?s=46

Anyone else notice the target audience for hiring and who gets to stay??
The Indian (India) Invasion and similar cultures.

Does anyone NOT have concerns about our beloved gladiator-style performance ranking system? You know, the one where 25% of the workforce—excluding fresh recruits still learning where the bathroom is—must be ceremonially tossed into the “Below Expectations” pit, regardless of actual performance.

Let’s pause and admire the sheer elegance of this approach:

• Step 1: Hire smart, capable people.
• Step 2: Force them into a Hunger Games-style cage match.
• Step 3: Declare 1 in 4 unworthy, because spreadsheets demand blood.

What’s the rationale, you ask? Simple. It’s not about ethics, fairness, or logic—it’s about visionary leadership. The kind that reads Shakespeare's Macbeth for bedtime stories and thinks empathy is a performance liability.

And while we’re redefining “culture” as “competitive trauma bonding,” let’s give a standing ovation to the Executive Committee for their bold commitment to sociopathic excellence. Speaking of which, here’s a helpful link for anyone curious about symptom #1: Choosing Therapy: Signs of a Sociopath.

https://www.choosingtherapy.com/signs-of-a-sociopath/

In closing, we should humbly suggest the Committee reflect deeply on this practice. Perhaps even consider a retreat with Spring Hill —ideally one with mirrors, therapists, and a copy of Leadership for Humans.

I have been here long enough to see how much things have changed, and it is hard not to miss what Oracle used to be. I still try to find reasons to stay, but each year it gets tougher to feel proud of the work. I keep hoping leadership will turn things around, yet the same issues keep showing up. Maybe it is me holding on to what was, but I am not ready to give up just yet.

All these comments about fraud, lying, cheating, and stealing from the company and leaders that support it…. If you know someone is cheating sales, and being paid for it, that’s fraud, and illegal. Lying about a number or cheating to hit a number that is not working with integrity. If you are mistreated by a boss because you refuse to do this or report others that lie, cheat or steal you should report it on the working with integrity hotline. It is anonymous and works when you provide proof. If you wait till they try and fire you for something it will be too late that would just be seen as you being defensive. If you really want to report this stuff do it there. Search for “integrity” on the stream and you’ll see it if the new leadership really wants to change things they need to know. Let’s see how serious they are about making our culture better.

I'm actually pretty shocked at how pervasive AI has become in every aspect of the company. From engineering to design to mail to people making their own agents, etc. It seems like we're just throwing money at the bubble and it hasn't yet resulted in any savings, just expenditure (Cursor, for one)
I use Cursor daily in my role and the amount of times I have to fix code or re-prompt something because it over-engineered something it got it entirely wrong is way too high.

RTO is just one of them. I hate this company and my job. If there were any real opportunities out there right now, I’d be out the door in a second. As things stand, we’re all just at the mercy of swelling corporate greed.

Folks who've worked at WF for years know what I'm talking about. Take a great idea in theory, use the WF way, and F it all up!!!!

WF 1ndia is a classic case. They took lower cost staff as the reason to outsource. Yet, WF built huge campuses over there. They hired a TON of staff over there. As most know, 3 of them do the work of 1 of us. And guess what, over there being in MGMT is sorta like being an emperor. (OK, sultan for them). So, if you take a look WF 1ndia is top heavy now with tons and tons of top and middle MGMT. And, don't forget all the junket flights WF execs take every few months to go there and "meet".

If you think they are flying coach, think again!! Any flight that is over 5 hours puts the flyer in business or first class, every time.

All this adds up to tremendous overhead and costs. Ask me, and I'd opine that these costs have made the 1ndia bloat super big at WF. To the point, its actually cheaper to hire USA staff. Yep. You heard it here first. Let's not even get into the political things like BRICS and how 1ndia is hanging with our adversaries. Nope, no one thought of that.....LMAO

Worst BU. Toxic environment, petty politics, fossil senior leadership in same position for decades, no decision making power or accountability (even at svp level). Confusion, delay in arriving at a conclusion, chinese whisper are synonymous to this BU.

I noticed recently a lot of messaging lately about how great it is to work at T, how everyone loves it and the benefit are fantastic (hooray for Lyra). Even our screensaver now tells how great it is to work here. Then I read this article and thought that's T.
https://www.shrm.org/topics-tools/news/linkage/hidden-cost-of-positive-vibes-only-at-work
Forced positivity comes with the unspoken expectation that employees should stay upbeat regardless of stress, fatigue, burnout, or team challenges. And while maintaining a positive environment is key, forcing a culture of unrealistic optimism isn’t grounded in reality. It creates a false environment

Does anyone else find it odd and totally insensitive that the group of people handling offboarding of VSP'd and ISP'd associates is named the "Execution Team"? Is this just an insensitive error naming the team or is it some type of twisted psychological play by one Penelope Pennington? Either way, very strange and off-putting.

"talent" is a just another annoying office word to describe anyone sitting at a table with a plastic box saying "pivot" and "bottom line" over and over

I would love to see Employees results by line item starting with Director up, AD’s we already know kiss the ring. Folks should propose that since it is (ha ha) Anonymous. Then I bet 100% not one has the kahuna’s to say the truth and be all butter cuz they live to the standards of my house is bigger than yours, my new Benz is better than your Bentley. My kids college costs me 250k a year.God forbid they told how they really feel because then their kids in college about to get hired by ATT would not. No different than the obvious ethnic pulling in, even married in the same org.

I find it ironic that Cisco who’s known for layoffs has these sales leaders who are well off preaching about supporting the homeless when they directly contribute to the issue. Many people who get laid off have families and houses and losing their livelihoods can directly impact their ability to provide for their families and potentially lose their means of shelter. Look the mission is great but doing this at a company like Cisco feels tone deaf

or Disneyland like experience. Is that idea still being floated? or project on hold or moving forward?

I am not in campus so I don't know! Appreciated if you can give me your update

Being ex Nike man, I think that if someone wants to send me to he-l for a day, that would be Nikeland. LOL

Anything good?

From Entrepreneur

Michael Dell Encourages Leaders to 'Make a Crisis' — Even If There Isn't One Already. Here's Why.
The 60-year-old CEO of Dell Technologies says crises motivate employees and bring about necessary changes.
——
This is the fastest way to create burnout. Apply pressure with no end while the CEO is on a private 787 jetting between on vacation spot to another. I’m sorry Michael, but this is not playing nice.

You may need an Apple News account. (Sorry)
https://stocks.apple.com/AupLrQI_HQ3OSCKZKzPUuHw

https://www.forbes.com/lists/worlds-best-employers/

The bottom 5% out of 900 companies. How is that possible.

The company is widely hated by the public due to their bad cell service & customer care.

How does this SLT look itself in the mirror? Long time, bleeding red Xerox people let go today while all the C level execs grab a raise and pad their exit plan. Congrats to Steve, Pastor, Mirlanda etc for running an icon into the ground. Re-invention is horsesh*t. Xerox is dead.

what's the use of working from office where most of the products make no money, no one is happy getting 2k increments per annum, Leadership shake up at the Top and the stock falling down exponentially ? do they learn something from these indicators?

After all the feedback, the Speak ups, the expressions of discontent- nothing changes. The CPO, VP of Operations and snakey HRBP (we all know who …k.a.) — still there. What a shame. AMN used to be a company that cared about its employees but those three have spread their greed and power tripping attitudes and toxicity wide and far. No longer am I proud to work at AMN. I’m disgusted and am biding my time until I can leave them high and dry. I have no desire to be associated with those three and am ashamed to even be a part of the HR team. I don’t know what more can be said before any action is taken. Probably take a lawsuit…. Well, be ready because that’s coming.

You folks need to go like Stankey said, plenty of hybrid and virtual. They say a hub but San Ramon is what, what about Missouri, etc and why are AVPs not all in Dallas that was the big press that went under the carpet to which they are not even in hubs, why how did they get the pass card. The company is going to the 1980’s punch card style basically and they don’t care. This SBC style outsource and project managers is underway., you do know ATT was basically bankrupt and SBC bought the name. FACT!! The glory and fixing some locations is a fools game otherwise they know folks would leave in bunches, so out with old and in with book smart maybe that. They hire someone that’s says they have a bachelor degree from a third world country that’s behind armed guards but it’s an accredited school but not USA credited since cost is cheap and so are getting degrees by sliding some local currency to the professors. What has happened to your company and who is really running it since most leadership are less than 6 years from other companies so they left or booted out

1. Salaried employees who stroll into the office over a half hour after everyone has arrived and leaves exactly at 5:00. They know their boss doesn’t keep track of their whereabouts, so they come and go as they please. I know for a fact that particular ones are not putting in hours online in the evening and weekends to make up for this time.

2. Untrained or lazy employees who forward an email to random people / departments looking for help, and the subject matter has nothing to do with what our department handles. They CC others on the email to make it look like they are doing something, then the CC people bombard us with angry replies because we haven’t responded. So, it’s our problem to deal with since the original sender decided to punt the ball over to us.

I have great empathy for victims being let go. Ageism is alive and well. No one will claim to have lost a good job though. You lost a job with high stress, little chance of success, zero training, impossible deadlines, plenty of unhappiness all around. A management team who hates their own jobs and all their subordinates. A kiss a-s culture wrapped in total incompetency.

So true, @gy+1k7g0fqf8. I was let go today, and strangely, I feel relieved. Even with the uncertainty ahead and the sting of being discarded after ten years as if I’m worthless, the overwhelming feeling is one of finally being free of this place.

I am not sure how some of these so called leaders make it to the top. But, that is one issue. What really boggles my mind is how so called leaders make decisions at one company. The first company turns around and reverses mistakes that leader made. Then a second company hires this leader to come to the new company and do the same thing. For example, Citi laid thousands of people off under DC's "leadership". Citi found out his vision was not sustainable. Citi has since reversed many of his decisions and hired people back. Some people have already moved on. Then what mystifies me is why does Penny Pennington and the powers that be at Edward Jones turn around and hire DC who has proven himself to be a failed leader? Penny Pennington has brought DC into the flock knowing full well that he is a wolf in sheep's clothing. DC is doing the same thing at Edward Jones that he did at Citi. I have seen many really good people who are really good at what they do get laid off to an extent that this model is unsustainable. After DC packs his bags and moves on to the next company to do the same thing Penny Pennington will have to rehire many people she and DC laid off. DC is a mercenary who goes from company to company cutting people and doing things that most people cannot do and be able to sleep at night. The first time I ever saw DC he was having a TED Talk moment in the South Campus Auditorium where he was talking about the movie Zoolander 2 of all things. He was also lecturing us about the culture of Edward Jones (people who had been there for 25-30 years). He said his favorite movie was Zoolander (that should tell you how deep of a thinker he is). He was using some salty language when he was speaking about Zoolander 2. The thing was he was saying it in front of the empty chair on the stage. As we all know the empty chair represents the client. We all have been taught to not say anything in front of the empty chair we would not say in front of a client. But, there was DC lecturing us all about Edward Jones' culture and how bad Zoolander 2 was. It was so surreal having been in the auditorium in the past listening to past managing partners like JB, DH, and JW. On the same stage years later is DC obsessing about how bad Zoolander 2 was. It was the strangest thing ever. But, this is the man Penny Pennington has hitched her wagon and her legacy to. It has become bad. It is going to continue to get worse. The Penny Pennington era at Edward Jones will be looked on as a dark time in the firm's history. When DC has done all the gutting Penny Pennington has hired him to do he will pack his bags and move on to the next company prepared to destroy the lives of the very people who built it. That is just what DC does. I guess he can sleep at night. I do not think anyone with a soul could sleep at night though. You knew who DC was when you brought him on. Shame on you, Penny Pennington, shame on you.

The mail from Gina just came in.

I will focus on my team and my manager. I cannot really say much about upper management or board, as I am too new.

But it is a good sign that SAP offers the opportunity to provide feedback. Hopefully people will have lots of good ideas how to improve the company.

Every time someone posts about working insane hours like it’s some badge of honor, I cringe. You’re not impressing anyone. You’re just proving that the company can take advantage of your loyalty without paying more. When will people finally wake up and realize this?

Yeah, Ford’s had its share of rough patches — nobody’s pretending otherwise. EV delays, reorganizations, the usual noise. But every once in a while something cuts through all that and reminds you why this place still matters.

Back in May, the Mustang GT3 owned the streets of Detroit, taking GTD-PRO victory on home turf:
👉 https://www.imsa.com/news/2025/05/31/ford-mustang-gt3-finds-gtd-pro-victory-lane-in-detroit/

Five months later, it crossed the Atlantic and made history at the Nürburgring with an overall win — one of the toughest tracks on earth:
👉 https://fordauthority.com/2025/10/ford-mustang-gt3-writes-history-with-hard-fought-nurburgring-win/

Two continents. Two legit wins. That’s what composure under pressure looks like. Feels good to see a Ford doing what it was built to do — win. 🔥🏆