#leadership

With Barnerd & Kleber leaving, and some other random directors - are they being pushed out? Or leaving on their own?

And are all renewable companies this poorly ran? This company feels like a joke with lack of accountability, favoritism, nepotism, etc. The "leadership team" seems so amateur. It's very concerning to a rather new employee.

The leadership that allows for something like this to happen is a disgrace.

IBM named a Leader in the 2026 IDC MarketScape for Decision Intelligence Platforms

https://www.ibm.com/new/announcements/ibm-named-a-leader-in-the-2026-idc-marketscape-for-decision-intelligence-platforms

my department leader is scared of pulse. she sends us pre and post pulse surveys no one is brave enough to fill out. she tries to act like a fun, happy leader. she promotes leaders who overdo social engagements.

everyone knows how fake she is.

is it normal behavior for a director level POS to run around telling people they are jealous of a higher ranking person who has an office?

T-Mobile has established its GCC in India, and AT&T has also expanded its offices across multiple locations. Meanwhile, Dan (the customers man )appears to have taken a very different approach, with several leadership positions being eliminated and ongoing workforce reductions across various organizations in India. It increasingly feels like Dan may be considering a significant reduction of employees and its office presence in India. Hope the hiring in US will be in peaks 🤞

14+ years with this company and I don’t recognize the culture I grew a career with.

Great leaders are being squeezed out due to location, being too “disruptive”, and being too much of champion for higher standards from the ground up when the HQ allow bare minimum to be enough. We are left with figure head leaders who have little to no interest in learning about employees under them, the work they do, the hurdles they jump over, and the hurdles they need help with.

Kiss a-s employees are securing jobs and leadership positions who lack innovative thinking but are good at pretending they have it. Senior leadership that can’t define their own KPIs remain in power and shouldn’t be. The business is crumbling because of it.

We cannot build a sustainable future on prestige and shortcuts. By prioritizing executive optics over operational excellence, we are actively eroding our own foundation and it is costing us our competitive edge.

This isn’t the Comcast I know. This isn’t the Comcast I was proud to work for over a decade.

I heard a couple of big names / leaders impacted this week. Any ideas on total impact?

I have been here long enough and I’m done! This place is past fixing. Nobody is even trying to save the sinking ship and the CEO is MIA.

Two Centenes showed up today.

At Deutsche Bank, the investor story was margin recovery: fewer Medicaid members, a major Florida contract exit, Medicare Advantage still working toward break-even, and hundreds of millions in severance, contract-exit, and third-party “optimization” costs excluded from adjusted SG&A.

Then Centene’s Chief Health Officer posted about a fellowship built around challenging assumptions, cross-sector partnership, affordability, access, and improving outcomes for the communities Centene serves.

Neither message is false. That is what makes the split-screen so effective.

One audience gets the carefully curated story of what can be shed, repriced, exited, or adjusted to make the numbers work. The other gets the mission story about what healthcare should become.

At Centene, “challenging assumptions” appears to mean asking everyone except leadership to accept theirs.

Centene gave the Deutsche Bank crowd a perfectly respectable update today: guidance holds, Q3 trends look like Q2, Medicaid margins are positive, and the turnaround is on track. All true.

But it was also a remarkably selective story.

The same update includes Medicaid membership falling about 9% this year; management estimating 25%–40% of expansion members could eventually become ineligible under work requirements; a Florida behavioral-health exit worth roughly $1.5 billion in revenue per quarter; and Medicare Advantage aiming for growth break-even or better in 2027. The remaining Medicaid population gets sicker as less-expensive members fall away, so the whole thing depends on rates arriving on time, medical-trend initiatives working, and states doing what they are supposed to do. They said as much. “Blocking and tackling” is executive-speak for there is no margin for another miss.

Then there is the scorecard. Centene’s adjusted SG&A excludes $355M–$405M in severance and contract-exit costs, plus $85M–$115M in third-party “optimization” costs. That does not make the recovery fake. It does make the victory lap awfully curated. The cost of making the company smaller is real, even when it is parked below the adjusted line.

So no, this is not really a growth story. It is a margin-recovery story built around fewer members, fewer contracts, fewer internal costs, more repricing, and a much narrower definition of success. Wall Street may love it. It may even work. But at some point, somebody should ask what is left after every non-profitable thing has been exited, every role has been optimized, and the members who remain cost more to serve.

At Deutsche Bank, Centene’s C-suite did not explain the turnaround. They curated the acceptable nouns: fewer members became “attrition,” contract exits became “discipline,” and the cost of putting people and vendors through “optimization” became an adjustment.

Remember “Candid conversations with care?” It would appear that was just another platitude.

It is a very polished story. It is not the whole one. Cute is not the same as candid.

When does SF get held accountable

Just look at their track record with audit, it&v, external regulators and voice of team survey results. Operating commette should be working with hr and demanding exit plans for these incompetent senior managers.

Anyone have a read out on the Mark Hura for North America's all hands call this week? Obviously I missed it being RIF'd on Monday.

Tara McRae has departed Puma North America. She was the first woman to lead the division. McRae is now joining Skechers. Her move comes just over a year after she took the helm at Puma. This represents a significant leadership change for both companies.

Somerville, Massachusetts

https://www.bizjournals.com/boston/news/2026/09/15/tara-mcrae-leaves-puma-for-skechers.html

So Meeten B SVP in Fusion (AI) is out in 2 weeks, Jim D GVP (RightNow) is out as well with him.
To the chopping block.

Ford Motor Company as an Internal Learning Organization. Inside the company, Ford uses the classic six pillars of a learning organization (Personal Mastery, Mental Models, Shared Vision, Team Learning, Systems Thinking, and Open Communication) to adapt to rapid changes in the auto and tech industries. Maybe we should challenge existing mental models and embrace the softer side of recalls and product quality?

I logically guesstimate that at least 30% of Humana’s profit margin today relies on cheaper non-citizen labor (e.g., H-1B Visas, Vendor Contracts that use H-1B Visas, Offshoring) and the hype to investors as to what AI (artificial intelligence) will bring about in the near future.

All it would take is for just two things to occur, perhaps coupled with one or two other coinciding events, to seriously ruin this corporation.

1) If H-1B Visas were to be sent packing and Vendors (heavily employed H-1B Visas) that Humana contracts with were to be highly scrutinized by federal government and brought to a halt.
2) AI (artificial intelligence) to be heavily regulated by the government and brought to a snail’s pace.

Executive leadership most likely will not admit it to you nor will SVPs, VPs, Directors, and Associate Directors as they have to “toe the line” and keep up the facade that “we are some big super power that nothing can stand in our way!” Pride goes before the Fall! Just a matter of time.

With hands on experience dealing with our CHRO, he literally su-ks. I know we live in the time of bootlickers get promoted but damn DH is the d-mbest out of the bunch. Literally self centered, just talks a bunch of nothing and pretending to be all knowing. How the other SVP in HR did not get promoted boggles me and I would say most of the people in HR. Literally acts like he is the reason MF/SF are the reason they are still standing, like my guy you were another cog HRBP.

Anyone else want to vent about our cr-ppy senior leaders?

So after 18 acquisitions, 8 1/2 years of Neri leadership, and a really long period of flat, nothing revenue growth, HPE is finally showing some signs of life. I wouldn't count on it lasting though.

As a teammate with nearly three decades at Truist and a pre-merger heritage organization, I want to name what I believe is the company’s real problem.

It is not low deposit growth. It is not the search for a niche. It is not delinquencies, charge-offs, underperforming products, weak technology, missed post-merger execution, revolving senior leadership, constant reorganizations, a vision that is endlessly discussed and rarely delivered, or employee surveys that appear to be read and never understood.

The core failure is that executive management has become so disconnected that employees, with thousands of years of combined experience, now show up each day less concerned about being terminated than about collecting the severance they believe they are owed.

They no longer come to work the way they did for decades: to do the best job they can, to serve clients they once loved serving, and to make this bank the best it can be. They walk in knowing the relationship has become transactional. Truist asks for more and more while treating “teammates” as a 50/50 business arrangement it no longer honors.

I never thought I would share that mentality. I always believed that showing up, putting in the work, and receiving fair compensation was a win-win. Over the last seven years, that balance has broken. Poor execution and poor decisions have created a kind of daily mental grind: people do not know where the company is going, where they will sit tomorrow, or whether they still have any real value to an organization that feels rudderless in a storm.

The Regional Acceptance decision made sense on paper and was probably overdue, as were other strategic moves. The failure is how those decisions, layoffs, and restructurings have been handled. Town halls from executives who have been here barely a year - talking about their trips, résumés, and past experience - do not land with people who have spent their careers here. Neither does the constant “team-centric” language about living your best life and endless career possibilities while the next reduction in force is already taking shape.

Executive management has been the problem since the merger was announced, and it remains the problem today. Teammates have said as much, repeatedly, through the surveys leadership seems obsessed with collecting and unwilling to act on. Truist is one of the best examples of organizational myopia in corporate America.

There are many examples of mis-management. Let’s list them out.

You can keep threatening people, but eventually the threats lose their effect. Once employees stop believing they have anything left to lose, motivation goes with it. My entire team is now completely checked out. Find better managers, Solventum, or you'll lose all of us.

T and firstnet leadership are in a massive pressure cooker putting employees who support the network and services in the epicenter of the blast zone. The Department of Commerce Office of Inspector General (OIG) issued an explosive audit (Report OIG-26-015-A) explicitly stating that the FirstNet Authority failed to ensure network service availability and failed to verify that AT&T’s data was reliable and accurate. Combine that with previous OIG investigations revealing that senior officials actively obstructed audits and retaliated against employees, and it becomes completely clear why leadership imtends to scrub the ranks of anyone who knows the truth about fictional timelines and launches and capabilities. Ask yourself if your part of those teams or people you know who work in this area if they have ever been gaslit and pressured into sharing fictional status and fantasy timelines. Those who resist are marginalized, discredited and kicked to the curb. The October layoff is being we-ponized as a preemptive cover-up to silence “witnesses”. Firstnet employees are no longer just dealing with typical downsizig but an active obstruction of a federal investigation. If you are an employee in this area, consider yourself warned and protect yourself immediately and get out. Feigning ignorance won’t save you.

There have been so many examples of Nike losing the exact thing that made us good. It always seems to start with decisions that look harmless on their own, then suddenly you're wondering what happened. We have plenty of experience and resources, so watching this happen over and over is pretty frustrating. You'd think we'd eventually learn from it.

There was a time when I would've defended this place without thinking twice. These days, I keep wondering what happened to the standards we used to have. So many decisions are difficult to understand that it's getting harder to take any pride in the place. I don't know how much longer this can continue.

Vision 2030 was supposed to be the Vision to be the best dsd company is what they said! Well how can we be the BEST when all we do is cut labor, cut service and cut deliveries oh and we can't hire anyone!!! Vision 2030 is Vision to be OUT of dsd. Mark my words. This company has been nothing but going down hill and the Mo--ns we have running this company only care about the shareholders and not the people that work for the company. Sad to see such a great company to work for go to sh-t!!!

I wonder if leadership understands the position they’ve put employees in now that we are facing the possibility of being laid off AND cut for being in the bottom 10%. Being laid off means it’s not due to your performance - your role just doesn’t exist anymore. Being let go in the bottom 10% “could” mean you’re a good performer on a high performing team. Just think about that. There are good hardworking people who create value for the company facing TWO possible ways of being unemployed. Really cr-ppy.

All these leadership hires from GM and Stellantis are d-mb as rocks. So tired of them telling long time employees how brilliant their prior company was and how d-mb Ford is. And the GM Club can stop snickering about our decisions, systems, etc. It wasn't too long ago they were fired from their old company. If they were so talented, they wouldn't be here. Go back to where you came from!

After finding out that my whole leadership took VSP and now part of a re-org I feel like my “new” team will be dissolved with my leadership departure. I would have taken the VSP if I would have known. Wondering if others feel that same.

Good leadership

All employees and shareholders need to do is watch this innovation roundtable hosted by Fast Company and featuring the brilliant incompetence of our design leader PM.

Here is the video: https://www.fastcompany.com/91608012/inside-nikes-innovation-reset

This solidifies our fate under his rule. Clueless, stuck, dusty, ready for 2005. He had done zero in his 15 months in this leadership position. Pathetic and embarrassing for our company!

IF SOMEONE FROM THE BOARD OR ONE OF THE KEY INVESTING COMPANIES IS READING THIS — CAN SOME GO AFTER THESE PAY GRADES ?? HOW MANY DO WE NEED TO GET THE “REAL” JOB DONE ??? THERE’S A WHOLE BUNCH WORKING FROM EXOTIC LOCATIONS PLAYING GOLF AND MOST OF THEM KNOW JACK S**T ABOUT THE GROUND REALITY COMPLETELY CLUELESS POCKETING THICK PAYCHECKS WHILE THE REAL WORKING CLASS THAT IS ALREADY SO THIN BARE BONES AND FURTHER BEING REDUCED TO ASHES NOW IS SUFFERING CLIENTS LEAVING !!!!!! REVENUE GROWTH AT 0-1% AND YOU STILL HAVE TO DO ALL THESE LAYOFFS??? LETS GET REAL HERE , WHAT IS GOING ON ????? CAN SOMEONE FROM THE BOARD START COMING TO THE TOWN HALLS , WHO KNOWS THE CEO DOING THE TOWN HALL TODAY COULD ALL OF A SUDDEN DISAPPEAR THE NEXT DAY ????WE ARE IN A BIG MESS !!! INVESTORS , PLEASE INVESTIGATE PAYCHECKS AND COMP AT THE TOP!!! IF YOU ARE GOING TO DRAG ALONG WITH 0-1% GROWTH WITH LAYOFFS EACH QUARTER , HOW LONG IS THIS GOING TO LAST ??? LITTLE NASTY FRANKY GOON RUINED THIS TO THE GROUND GET HIM BEHIND BARS AND HAVE HIM PAYBACK ALL THE MILLIONS HE WALKED AWAY WITH SO THE WORKING CLASS CAN BE REWARDED AND RETAINED. WITH TAKING ITS STARTING TO LOOK LIKE FRANK AGAIN ! WE JUST HAVE ONE HAND OUT ABOVE THE GROUND NOW AND THE REST IS GONE DEEP UNDER THE GROUND NO WAY TO PULL OUT !!! WAKE UP BOARD AND INVESTORS WAKE UP IF YOU READING THIS THE TIME TO ACT THIS NOW #SAVE FISERV NOW #STOP THE LOOT #CULPRITS BEHIND BARS

Reminder: the only metric they will listen to is not filling out the survey. We tried tanking the survey with low “My company cares about my well being” scores. Only to be subjected to a year of gaslighting and telling us, it is because we don’t know enough about our benefits, as if we all just forgot about them when RTO hit. Most lower levels of management hate RTO and having to talk about it every team meeting. At some point in the leadership chain they start to care more about their career then their employees wellbeing and simply to refuse to push back against Stankbutt. Maybe once we let them know how checked out this workforce is, they will start to tell the emperor he isn’t wearing clothes.

Big shocker folks. Our company is worth less and less each day under Enrique Lores. The layoffs did nothing but lose the company more value. Can this guy do anything right? Serious question.

The Cobra Effect

I retired fairly recently after working for CMCSA for 17 years all of which was in HQ. I am not disagreeing with comments about leaders not changing focus, product development issues or competing/over-lapping groups but what tech or product should CMCSA have "pivoted" (man I hate that word) to?

It was only a matter of time before video would die and the theme park experiment was just that. So where should they have invested in?

Do we need fairytales to hide the greed, fraud and cronyism?

Elizabeth Brinn started Family Hospital Physician Associates, not a massive corporation named Centene.

The Original Entity (1984): Elizabeth Brinn incorporated a small, single-city nonprofit Medicaid plan in Milwaukee called Family Hospital Physician Associates.

The Transition (1995–1996): After her passing, the nonprofit assets were sold to investors to fund her charitable foundation. The new owners hired Michael Neidorff as CEO to scale the business.

The Rebrand (1997): Instead of shutting down the old business and starting a new one, Neidorff took Brinn's original entity, relocated its headquarters to St. Louis, and legally changed its name to Centene Corporation

Research estimates vary, suggesting 8–12% of CEOs may be highly narcissistic, while many others display milder traits along a spectrum.

Below is a URL to a recent article that goes into detail as research done on CEOs who exhibit narcissistic traits.

Article Published 9/7/2026:

https://thebalance.clinic/resources/mental-health/narcissism/ceos-and-narcissism/