#leadership

I joined during Hans' tenure, so that's all I know. But there must have been some good ones, right?

Dan Schulman's headcount cuts at PayPal, primarily in 2023 (around 2,000 employees) and 2024 (another 9% of workforce), were a strategic move for operational efficiency and cost reduction in a tough market, saving significant annual costs (estimated $260M+), but whether they fully "helped" is mixed, as the company continued restructuring and facing competition, with Schulman moving to Verizon.shortly after, indicating ongoing challenges in the sector.

Why the Cuts Happened:
Economic Headwinds: Fears of a global slowdown and inflation pressured tech companies, requiring adaptation.

Strategic Pivot: The cuts aimed to streamline operations, increase efficiency, and better compete with agile fintech rivals.

Cost Management: A major goal was to reduce expenses, with projected savings of hundreds of millions annually from the job cuts.
Impact & Outcome:

Short-Term Savings: The layoffs immediately reduced employee-related costs, with estimates suggesting significant annual savings.
Strategic Modernization: The restructuring aimed to modernize PayPal's platform, simplify processes, and improve scalability, but it was an ongoing effort.
Leadership Transition: Schulman stepped down as CEO in late 2023, leaving the company to continue adapting under new leadership, while he took on the CEO role at Verizon in 2025, implementing similar efficiency drives.
In essence, the cuts were a necessary cost-cutting measure to improve efficiency, but they reflect a broader industry shift, and their ultimate success is part of a longer-term story of PayPal's evolving market position.

Jan 30, 2023 — PayPal CEO Dan Schulman announced that the company is cutting 2,000 employees, or about 7% of its workforce.

Payments Dive
PayPal to cut 9% of workforce to bolster efficiency - Payments Dive
Jan 29, 2024 — PayPal to cut 9% of workforce to bolster efficiency

I used to enjoy working here, but that faded over a decade of slow decline. None of this happened suddenly like some people like to claim. It was a long and steady erosion from one bad decision after another. I miss the Dell that used to feel like a real community.

I will deeply miss Run With Hans, but I am grateful we have something else to look forward to with Dan being a coffee aficionado. Coffee With Dan! It was so cool seeing him stand on stage with his cup of joe and talking about coffee. It really helped me cope with the layoffs and took my mind off losing 400,000 customers this year. With our Billion dollar Formula 1 contract, I hope he gets all of the executives to attend F1 in Brazil in November. I bet he can have some great coffee while he is there.

Let's go V Teamers!!

Verizon CEO Defends 13,000 Layoffs Amid Market Share Struggles

Verizon’s new CEO, Dan Schulman, has vigorously defended the recent decision to eliminate 13,000 jobs, framing the mass layoffs as an "inevitable" step to save the company from continued decline. In a candid all-hands meeting on December 5, Schulman attributed the telecom giant's struggles to "self-inflicted wounds," including complex promotions and price hikes that have alienated customers and eroded market share.

The drastic workforce reduction, executed in November, was part of a strategy to "simplify" operations and free up capital to improve the customer value proposition. Schulman, who took the helm in October following the ousting of Hans Vestberg, argued that minor cuts would have been insufficient. "If we don’t have enough money to put back into our value proposition to customers, we are going to continue to shrink," he told employees.

The layoffs come at a time when Verizon is grappling with significant performance issues. The company reported a loss of 7,000 postpaid phone customers in the third quarter of 2025, with a churn rate rising to 0.91%. Schulman noted that Verizon has lost 500 to 700 basis points of market share over the last five years. He frankly admitted that customer satisfaction scores are lagging behind competitors like T-Mobile, a situation exacerbated by price increases that have "irritated" subscribers.

Verizon's job cuts were a major contributor to a spike in unemployment within the telecommunications sector. According to data from Challenger, Gray, & Christmas, the industry saw over 15,000 job cuts in November alone—the highest monthly total since April 2020. This move aligns with a broader trend of workforce reductions across the U.S., where job cuts surpassed 1.1 million for the year, with the tech and telecom sectors being particularly hard hit.

https://www.thestreet.com/retail/verizon-ceo-reveals-mistakes-that-led-to-over-13000-layoffs

CEO doesn't even show up in office for the all hands after forcing everyone back 5 days 🤡🤡

I’m not convinced anyone new will do wonders for my team, but watching him leave after all the damage he caused was so, so satisfying.

Even in the media. Nothing remotely concrete. It makes me wonder if the damage is going to be worse than we originally thought.

So rumor has it King Kobi will grace us with his presence next week. And of course we have to look our best, appear professional. Why? He literally zooms through the office in his entourage of sycophants, without a glance, smile, or nod to the ACTUAL workers. Why do we have to "dress appropriately" for someone who has zero interest in looking at us? He really doesn't see us at all.

We just had a TDC Townhall and everyone was saying kudos to everyone. While recognition is good, we also received word from our TDC leaders that there is a 20% cap on the number of TDC associates who can receive a rating of for 2025. If things were so great, why impose a cap? This is so frustrating.

A physical employment of Eliza in android form? A keynote read to us by an AI voice circa 2010? A parade of newly appointed MDs patting themselves on the back? A fourth pillar focused on Being More for our Overlords?

How are we still trying to figure out how to do things other companies with fewer resources figured out years ago?

I hear so many L7+ leaders from stores, supply chain, digital, etc. talk about things that are already close to irrelevance.

I’ve only been at Target for a couple of years, but from the outside it didn’t seem this bad. Seriously, how did we get here?

Who do you think is an awesome boss at NM, and you’d bend backwards to work for him or her?

I got a small buzz today from a bird who said they heard about possible CWP engineering reorgs… nothing major but possibly more positions under different leaders?? Anyone know anything?

Anyone who worked with him when he was in lower positions, was he always this heartless and uncaring towards others? Did he grow into it or was he always terrible? Ive only been here a couple years and he's a monster in many ways.

I know it’s easy to point fingers when things are not going well but where was our fearless leader 2025?

While the ship was sinking in 2025, he was no where to be found.

From the start, he took care of all his friends regardless of whether they had the experience or not to work the position.

This is the same guy who told us nothing would change when we were transitioned over to CUSA other than our email. He said it would be a good move for the company to help align support. Can anyone still employed at Canon USA (formerly CSA) say things have improved with the transition?

When he felt intimidated, he created useless buffers by promoting his old friends from Chicago. When he felt people were pushing him out he turned up the heat and forced them out.

Anyone could have run this company during the good times. It’s the tough times that show who the true leaders are. It’s safe to say our leader played and hide and go seek for this entire year. Maybe someone should tell him the game is over and it’s time to leave Melville and buy a one way ticket back to Chicago.

Good luck Mason, it’s safe to say you inherited a mess at the hands of your colleague.

Please keep it civil so the thread stays and does not get nuked.

Is Dan playing the same character, only I doubt Verizon will have the same happy company ending the movie did.

Two big exits in two weeks. Honestly feels like things might finally be moving in the right direction. Really hoping the unannounced / undecided LSS interim is the one we’re all secretly pulling for. And that today's announced CTO interim doesn’t end up permanent. Who's the next one to go?

Real players are Aruba going forward, and he's the guy where they pull the string on his back and watch the show for a few minutes. You can tell he's just copying himself, wondering how to get a seat at the adults table for the big dinner.

I was doing some tinkering with AI and thought to share:

⭐ 3. Set internal boundaries with AI pressure and dashboards

Dashboards are not reality.
AI promises are not reality.
The “push of a button” narrative is not reality.

But your body reacts like they are threats.

To protect yourself, create a mental mantra:

“Leadership’s metrics are not my emergency.”

Repeat it when:
• deadlines shift
• new reviews drop suddenly
• AI hype creates worker panic
• leadership frames scarcity as urgency

Your job is to contribute — not to sacrifice your health for an algorithm.

You gotta hand it to The Stankmeiser. He really knows the landscape and how to be a wheeler dealer.

New Role made up for Chief Digi officer Russell Jokes, where to they make these up, and a remarketing colour for the logo.

Another millionaire on the board, and millions wasted following on from Mary. Nobody knows who DXC are.

This "leadership" keeps cutting people and stacking the leftovers on whoever stays. They already started again, and I am determined not to take on another unwanted task. We all kept absorbing the hit and pretending it was normal, but that ends for me today. If pushing back puts a target on my back, so be it.

Today’s S&T townhall was a masterclass in corporate spin. They bragged about “wins” and “momentum,” but flat-out refused to address the mess happening behind the scenes. Not a single word about the plants being shut down. No mention of the layoffs already underway. No acknowledgment of the teams stretched thin or the projects that failed.

Leadership acted like everything is perfect while people’s jobs are on the line. They know employees are anxious. They know closures are happening. They know cost-cutting is hitting hard. And yet they chose to pretend none of it exists.

This wasn’t a townhall — it was a PR show.
If PepsiCo wants any credibility left, they need to stop hiding behind glossy slides and start telling the truth.

SBC Legacy Executives chased off all the talent and threats to upend their massive incompetence.

Next cascade should focus on redoing cascade 1. Since cascade 2, we’ve seen the same incompetent leadership coming through. How about doing cascade 1 correctly before shaving associates first? As they say, it all starts with leadership and we have it seen one in a while. Btw… doing listening posts is not enough.

What if we had Olympic Games for Managers and above? Categories would include:
1- Reporting your dubious achievements through rose tinted glasses
2- Schmoozing your peers and superiors while neglecting your own department
3- Running your team ragged while having little to no impact
4- Promoting as many unqualified people as possible
5- Running around like a chicken with its head cut off
6- Failing up

Do you know any potential gold medalists?

GN&T did their usual shuffle of ADs and SDs after the RIF. For those that are unfamiliar, once a year or once every few years, they shuffle ADs and SDs from one department that they’re unqualified to lead to another where they’re typically even less qualified. It’s one of the many brilliant strategies that have allowed the competition to catch up or even surpass VZ

Currently at the Irvine plant. Demand has been extremely low for months. A round of RIFs already happened a few weeks ago, followed by an extended manufacturing shutdown where most operators have been forced onto unpaid leave after exhausting PTO. Leadership has openly stated their current strategy is essentially to “wait and hope things improve.” Production numbers continue trending downward, and it feels like another wave of layoffs is imminent. Morale is very low and confidence in management is basically nonexistent right now. Just had to let that out lol

I love how leadership claims forced stack ranking isn’t happening. It is. 100%. India is not part of it. So if your team has 15 US and 5 India the rankings are only for the 15 US. That means one or two of you will get less than meets even if you do meet the job. And even if the Indian team is far worse. We got it in writing which is only because our manager is new and didn’t realize she shouldn’t email that kind of thing. Keep the paper trail coming! Document everything people.

Those of you saying that without a leadership change this won’t be a big deal. Steve Llewellyn‘s retirement was announced Friday. John Dean is coming to Frito US from Beverages.

That’s probably the first domino. Since it’s PEPNA, that’s the US and Canada. Prob some realignment and HQ roles being shifted to GBS

The moment i receive the letter, i will file all the paid leave. (PTO and Caregiver)

Comeback and say NO.

Our leadership has IQ of the current weather right now in New England.

There’s no real chance of recovery on the path we’re on, especially with the people steering the wheel. At this point it barely matters whether the next cuts land in December or later. They’re coming. It would just be nice if, for once, the people responsible actually took the blame. It’s absurd to pretend anyone but leadership is accountable for the state of affairs.

Don’t be. Or at least, don’t take them to heart. They aren’t genuine assessments. They’re just a convenient cover for cuts and reorgs. A bad review might increase the odds of being let go, but it says nothing about your real performance, and definitely nothing about your actual value. Leadership is focused on finding the easiest and cheapest ways to push people out, whether it’s through reviews or some other pretext. The whole thing is just theatrics.

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.

Now that feels like a foggy memory. It was never perfect, and I never expected major career growth. Advancement was already limited when I joined. But things were better organized, more efficient, less harsh, and at least somewhat logical. Doing a good job actually meant something.

Today it’s a drag, with constant chaos, growing obstacles to helping clients, and the axe always spinning overhead. Any motivation, encouragement, or respect has been stripped out of how leadership treats employees. I honestly think they’re counting on most of us being decent people who still try to do our jobs responsibly, because there’s no external incentive left. The only thing keeping anyone dedicated now is personal ethics.

Every message from leadership sounds like a template written by someone who never met a real employee. They keep talking about strategic focus and long-term vision while people pack their desks quietly. Talk about a disconnect.