#leadership

It’s clear that what Mike Wirth is doing is cannibalizing Chevron for dividends to try to make it look like it’s a good company to invest in. No reserves = no future. Look at his history with the company. It’s all downward. Now he’s cannibalizing the company so that when he leaves, he leaves with a nice chunk of change.

Exactly what @am+1k728pwka said.

Lately, there’s been a noticeable lack of leadership and engagement from management. The tone and approach in communication often feel short, dismissive, or lacking in encouragement.

Well, since the pipeline is crawling, I have lots of time to search for another job. I can't believe what this company has done to it's self. You can track my utilization till the cows come home. Wait, while at it, shuffle some execs around to keep the worker bees thinking that something magical is going to happen, or pop, it's not. There used to be 15 on the team, now we have been dwindled down to 3. Winning!!!! Wait, I have an idea, let's acquisitionFLYwheel another company to try and get deeper in some accounts while offshoring is being done not so quietly in the background and "teammates" are being clobbered. Zero clue, zero talent. I think today, I'll let InsightGPT re-write my resume and get some certifications since clients aren't picking up the phone... Just wondering when the CAPtian team team are going to get to boot?

Our senior leadership were visibility angry when they shared the results of last survey, we've even were told to leave SAP if we weren't happy and not to fault them as leaders. This survey I am not going to even bother answering. They have a target on the number of responses and I am not going to help them. As per the comments, they are worth nothing, I've hold roles close to leaders in the past and leaders didn't do a single thing rather than making calculations and trying to guess who answered what. If I am still here by when the survey is launched, I am going to ignore the email and the 200 reminders I'll receive after.

Everybody should do the same as @bp+1k7bwjdxa. I certainly plan to.

What a joke! 90% people took it? are you serious? when 3 days before it closed, we were told there were less than 50% participation, please please please take it we were told.
IMPOSSIBLE.

15% point gain in leadership trust? again, seriously? IMPOSSIBLE.

Those numbers are so rigged. So obvious. Like I said before, stop taking it.

They are taking our last awesome benefit: our health insurance and Collective Health. Aetna is cr-p. Lets just wait to see the premiums...

This is AT&T’s “2020 Vision” but 10 years later, and the reduction goal being 25% instead of 1/3 of the workforce. I don’t know if there will be the COURTESY of another VSP but the HCL selloff was just a slap in the face. You had people with 30 years get denied the STANDARD severance, given NO runway.

There’s been a lot of frustration across teams lately — and rightfully so. The biggest problem isn’t talent or capability; it’s culture. Somewhere along the way, Pepsi’s open, collaborative spirit got replaced by a fear-driven, top-down approach.

Too many leaders now operate with a “yes-boss” hierarchy mindset ( Santosh , mamta for eg), where questioning decisions is seen as disloyal instead of constructive. That’s created silos, favoritism, and a lack of accountability. People who actually do the work often stay quiet because the loudest voices hold the power.

It’s not about one region or one team — it’s a mindset issue. Leadership by intimidation never sustains results; it just silences good people.

Still, there are leaders holding the place together:
• Dave continues to drive performance and push for accountability.
• Stephanie remains fair, transparent, and grounded.
• Shyam brings logic and calm.
• Magesh, who built Accelerate S&T for I & O and rebuilt the D&A from what was a fragmented setup, keeps driving structure and stability — though the credit doesn’t always reach him. Santosh took the I & O credit.

Pepsi has the right foundation, but it needs to get back to leadership built on respect, collaboration, and courage — not hierarchy and fear. That’s the real reset we need.

Hey ya T. Rowe fam,

Honest question - why is it that if you're a moderately senior person on the Distribution/Sales side of the business you get a golden parachute (I'm assuming) while so many others just get the boot unexpectedly? Globally it looks like a few of these sales people "retire" or "leave to pursue other opportunities". At the company a lot of the sales people seem to not win much while lose a lot of clients and business. Like a few seem to have come from less well known competitors in the industry and didn't have any demonstrable track record. There's also some that have a track record of bullying. It seems on the investment side of the business there are a lot of well educated, high performing people. The same can't be said for the sales people. The ones that don't get a golden handshake just seem to keep their job and hang on. I chat with some of them and a few are good operators but they're the minority. Honestly, why are the salespeople here rewarded for doing nothing, or even destroying value in some cases.

Employers say they want people with integrity, loyalty, and to become really good at their jobs in order to serve the clients/customers with exemplary service and products. But, they reward people who do whatever it takes to advance. They tell FA's to push products that are fee based when those products are not in the best interest of the client (lack of integrity and ethics). They preach loyalty yet they bring in people from the outside and pay them more than paying long tenured employees because they know the current employees will stay without a competitive merit increase. They also preach customer service and job performance. Yet, when they think they need to restructure to be more competitive they just run analytics and cut with a machete instead of doing research to keep top performers with the plan to hire people back when they have finally decided what roles the firm will need. I understand this is what most employers do. However, this is not what Edward Jones has ever done. Penny and the rest of the ELT has decided to do this and therefore has made Edward Jones just another run of the mill employer. Edward Jones used to be a destination employer. A place where quality talent wanted to get to and stay. That is why Ted decided to have your profit sharing vest one hundred percent on day one unlike most employers. Now, Penny has decided to just run the company like any other. Top talent will not choose to come here. Top talent will not choose to stay here. Penny has decided to destroy the culture of this company from the inside out. The fall of this firm will not come from an outside threat. It will come from the inside. I believe the time is now. I believe her name is Penny Pennington.

It has taken awhile to get my mind around this, but the old model of Optum being able to hire a set of onshore engineers or analysts and throw millions at that is permanently over. Wall Street no longer trusts UNH, and for a long time despite very opaque reports on how money was made we plowed through with various revenue claims that any normal company would have been called out on. That’s over-no more moving money from UNH to Optum and calling it revenue, no more selling off groups then buying them back, no more projects that may be profitable someday. There are no more games to play. If a group isn’t profitable now, there’s zero chance it’s going to be added to, and will probably be cut. Bonuses are going to go towards zero, whatever was left of the country club is going away. If you hear you will hire more people someday, don’t count on it. The layers of managers who spend days building PowerPoint for other managers are next for the cut-if you’re not delivering to bottom line, find a way to.

And that’s not going to happen with this leadership. It really feels like they’ve completely lost touch with reality. The world is changing fast, but Chevron is moving forward on pure inertia, as if nothing around us is shifting. They’re doing this reorg like it’s business as usual, but it’s not. These decisions can have serious long-term consequences, not just for the company but for the many people who’ll be left without jobs. It’s frustrating watching leadership pretend everything is going according to plan, while there’s no real plan grounded in reality.

There’s a clear distinction between being fluent in English and demonstrating wisdom and sound decision-making. The leader being promoted in this company is knows how to say the right corporate things at the right time, but often lacks depth in judgment. When you look at the initiatives they champion and where they focus their efforts, it becomes apparent that many are driven more by smooth talk than by substance.

Current ELT will be ousted in 1-2 years. John hess will bring new elt. Another transformation will take place in 2027-2028

It’s wild how many leaders here have big titles but no idea what they’re doing. It's amazing how we have to spend half our time fixing their messes.

I have been telling that he is not a great CEO, we need someone with a backbone to make big changes.

Should we start a bingo card for the corny expected spin from the SLT when the Q3 earnings are posted? Can't wait for the town hall or fireside chat to hear how the reinvention is sailing along.

Remember a few years ago when things were actually going well? How did we get from that to this so fast? Leadership failing this badly should be studied in schools.

When leadership doesn’t care, why should we keep breaking ourselves to make them look good?

If the new CEO decides to actually get rid of the real fat, and we all know there’s plenty of it here, that’ll be one move I’ll applaud. You know exactly who I’m talking about, the unnecessary layers of management, the slackers who do nothing but stay protected because they’re tight with someone a few levels up, and so on.

I used to think sticking it out would pay off, but after watching the same bad decisions over and over, I’m done hoping. Stankey and the rest of the execs couldn’t lead their way out of a paper bag.

All that's been happening are random cost-cutting and chaos. I honestly don't see much of a future here anymore.

How many of you are happy you voted for Elliott now?

But I’d still keep my resume updated and keep an eye on other opportunities. The massive layoffs just proved that we’re the first ones on the line when they need to buy some more time.

So... imagine a team that's been cut, cut, cut. In half. Down to the bone. There's a hiring freeze. Alas, the manager has an employee who's a poor performer but can't do anything because a) the person can't be replaced (hiring freeze) and b) a layoff is coming and there needs to be a lamb to go.

Meanwhile, those who remain must work even harder to accomplish their tasks. Otherwise, those in charge crack the whip and say, "Why can't you deliver 'on time' to the arbitrary delivery date we dreamed up?"

What's really messed up is the leadership that thinks this makes any sort of sense. Ultimately, at the rate this company is going, the train will run off the cliff and crash at the bottom of the canyon because the only ones that remain either don't care or don't know how to put on the brakes.

The tech team’s culture is a masterclass in exploiting the need for networking in the field while treating actual engineering like a thankless chore. Most “management” here are too busy kissing up to non-engineers and flaunting their “connections” like they’re auditioning for a C-suite reality show or getting a millionaire customer on the books. The company leans hard into the field’s obsession with who-knows-who, we-ponizing it to reward political players at HO over producers. Meanwhile, engineers who grind out solid code and keep the systems humming? We’re just background noise, expected to bow to the schmooze gods. Skip a “networking” DEI event to debug a critical issue? You’re “not strategic.” It’s a ridiculous game where pleasing non-techies and chasing clout trumps building anything real. Time to value the code that drives the business, not the connections! 😅

Good expose on the mistakes that have led to stagnant growth and culture. Geoff comes across as dismissive and defensive, nothing is his fault. Do you think it’s true in your group that engagement scores are up since 2019? I’m not seeing it!

Insider sources indicate that the announcement will be during Q1 earnings call in November.

Reading in one of the posts that there are “reservations” about the helpfulness or productivity of GT EMEA teams hits hard, especially now, in the midst of layoffs that are already testing our collective resilience.

Having overseen cross-geo value delivery teams for years, I can say with confidence that many EMEA teams have matured into highly effective, fast-moving, and quality-driven units. We’ve delivered value; not just outputs, by staying close to our consumers, our business partners, and each other. That’s not a claim; it’s a lived experience!

What I’ve learned from working in a global domain is this: when leadership becomes micromanagement, when governance overshadows trust, and when agility is reduced to a checklist, we lose the very essence of what makes teams thrive. We lose people. We lose purpose.

Simon Sinek puts it well: “You can’t manage people. You can manage a process, a project, a schedule, but you lead people.” Leadership is a human function. It’s about care, inspiration, and connection, not enforcement.

And yet, we’re seeing the opposite. While we speak of agility, we’re letting go of the very people who embody it. While we claim to value empowerment, we’re centralizing control. While we celebrate Nike’s people-first culture, we’re eroding it from within.

This isn’t just about GT EMEA. It’s about what kind of global team we want to be. If we truly care about value delivery, let’s start by valuing the people who deliver it.

I recently had an epiphany of sorts.

Someone on this page shared that many ex ATT employees went to a company called WTT. When I went to their company website I saw a smaller company that thrived by saying it valued its employees. The quote by the CEO was encapsulated within background photos of happy employees. When you look closer at the faces in the photos, you can see genuine happiness.

Here’s the quote.

Our employees are the foundation of our company's success and how we run our business. That's why we are invested in them and their well-being, and why we strive to create a culture that empowers, supports and celebrates all people."

Jim Kavanaugh, CEO and Co-Founder

I said to myself, I remember working for a place like that. Then it hit me. Why am I still here?

I liken it to the frog in the pot. You don’t know you’re cooked until one day you wake up. It happens slowly so it’s hard to see and feel the change. Little by little they’ve been turning up the heat on the stove and I can now feel myself starting to cook.

The question now is, when will I be done? The thought is already placed in my mind.

I can do better. We can all do better.

Lets admit it - Qualcomm's overblown management chain is useless to the core. All of them alike: incompetent, lazy, selfish sycophants, leaching resources, driving professionals out. Do you want to tell me that there is no conflict of interest where CEO's brother making a career? And this is just a tip of an iceberg, because such exist at every level. These people literally breaking their own code of business conduct with impunity. What chance engineering force and shareholders have to receive the value back for their hard work and investment? I would say - none, unless the whole structure is chopped to pieces and thrown away without mercy and payoffs. Complete business audit should allow to cut expenses I would say 50% at least without anyone noticing that these leaches have gone. In fact the level of distraction will become significantly lower. Where else did you attend to meetings with tens of attendees while only a couple of them actively solving an issue? Where else did you have to work around because your ignorant boss force the decision upon you and made task unnecessarily more difficult and far less productive? The solution is simple and less brutal than something that is expecting workforce and shareholders if take over does not happen.

Why are people on this lay-off site not criticizing the CEO?

One of the directors in EACX mentioned that they have been asked to share a list of potential employees who are not critical to the team and can be let go if required. Not sure if it is bank wide or just some orgs.

No more CCO? And it’s not a hot topic?

Looks like the original post from yesterday was removed.

Interesting article about the bad investments and Han’s sudden departure.

https://www.lightreading.com/business-transformation/there-is-something-fishy-about-the-verizon-ceo-swap-out

There’s lots of Exec HR managers leaving EM. Guess they were part of this cluster project to destroy morale and chop people and now they are running elsewhere before it implodes. Can’t wait to see how bad this turns out in about 3years time when the s hits the fan. What’s the bets DWW retires before it comes back to bite us

With the Execs bringing on more friends at the top in to non existent roles the share price is tanking. Results are due on the 30th Oct, Ra wul going to talk a load of AI, swinging it out as much as he can. This is getting worse than Sallys Ex Accenture gang milking raid. Nobody is buying the fried chicken excuses.

Barron's:

• Genius or Cliff Dive (Larry Ellison’s $300 billion dollar AI Power Play)

Oracle is riding the AI wave like a rocket, with the stock up 373% in 3 years, a reported $300 billion dollar OpenAI contract, and a backlog exploding to $455 billion dollars.

Larry Ellison, 81 and still in attack mode, is turning Oracle into the supplier of choice for AI builders, not a rival. The playbook is simple: data plus compute equals destiny. The company is loading up on capacity and customers, while Ellison pursues strategic side quests that protect the core, from the TikTok USA bid to deep ties with Skydance and Paramount.

The bill is massive. Oracle is taking on more than 90B dollars in long-term debt, sold 18B dollars in bonds in September, and could see gross margins fall from about 72 percent to about 52 percent by 2029 even as revenue soars.

If OpenAI and a few whales deliver, Ellison’s biggest bet becomes his legacy, with scale lifting profits over time. If contracts wobble or capex drags, customer concentration plus leverage becomes the plot twist. Translation: Oracle is trading margin now for AI dominance later, and Wall Street is watching.

Source:

https://www.barrons.com/articles/larry-ellison-oracle-56e03912

Barron's:
Genius or Cliff Dive (Larry Ellison’s $300 billion dollar AI Power Play)

Oracle is riding the AI wave like a rocket, with the stock up 373% in 3 years, a reported $300B dollar OpenAI contract, and a backlog exploding to 455B dollars.

Larry Ellison, 81 and still in attack mode, is turning Oracle into the supplier of choice for AI builders, not a rival. The playbook is simple: data plus compute equals destiny. The company is loading up on capacity and customers, while Ellison pursues strategic side quests that protect the core, from the TikTok USA bid to deep ties with Skydance and Paramount.

The bill is massive. Oracle is taking on more than 90B dollars in long-term debt, sold 18B dollars in bonds in September, and could see gross margins fall from about 72 percent to about 52 percent by 2029 even as revenue soars.

If OpenAI and a few whales deliver, Ellison’s biggest bet becomes his legacy, with scale lifting profits over time. If contracts wobble or capex drags, customer concentration plus leverage becomes the plot twist. Translation: Oracle is trading margin now for AI dominance later, and Wall Street is watching.

Source:

https://www.barrons.com/articles/larry-ellison-oracle-56e03912