#strategy

One of the most frustrating things about career advancement here is realizing that performance, experience, education, and demonstrated leadership are not necessarily what determine who moves up. After years of strong performance, the feedback can still boil down to “relationships, image, exposure, and sponsorship” and that the employee needs to figure out what they need to do differently.

That feels backwards. If an organization has experienced, high-performing employees who repeatedly compete for advancement but remain stuck, leadership should have some responsibility for identifying the gap, creating development opportunities, and building an actual path forward. Telling employees to simply “figure it out” while promotions depend heavily on who knows you, who sees you, and who advocates for you is not a meaningful development strategy.

At some point, companies need to ask whether their talent systems are actually developing people or simply rewarding those who already have the right visibility and relationships.

Just saw one of the fastest thread takedowns I think I've ever seen. It may have been there a minute or two before I saw it but I was in the middle of responding to it when it disappeared. 😂

I guess it was one of the trolls at T bragging about their new AI something or another that was in the news today.

But it got me to thinking.

What are we doing with our wireless network right now?

I have no idea what we've done recently to improve it.

All I hear about is dark fiber, data centers and free AI training for the nation.

And with T getting two big announcements in two days for their 5G improvements, is Dan's plan to actually let the wireless side kind of fizzle out?

Wireless does seem to be the focus of a lot of the layoffs lately unless I am mistaken.

Yes, you heard it right. Your compensation and maybe even job will depend on how much of this garbage you repeat.
Yes, they are the worst batch of leaders NM has ever seen.
Yes, they spent millions of dollars and over a year to dream up what you just saw.
Yes, it was absolutely underwhelming.
Yes, they gave you absolutely nothing new.
Yes, there is no way this will work.
Yes, NM is in huge trouble.

https://247wallst.com/personal-finance/2026/09/21/humana-is-dropping-plans-covering-600000-members-and-hopes-240000-choose-humana-again-the-replacement-is-not-the-same-plan/

The stock price is about where it was when Chris became CEO in 2019.

Way to go, Chris! How's that "strategy" panning out???

Have some dignity and resign. Or just ask the board to fire you, which is beyond me why they haven't.

White space, commercial, white space, underpenetrated (eww), white space,…

I’m looking for a serious discussion here: no trolling, rage bait, etc.

I’m assuming if you’re still here, you either have no options or genuinely enjoy whatever culture we have left, especially if you got in before COVID.

Anyway, what do you think about the new structure changes? What do you think the plan is?

There is a question worth asking about the recent RIFs affecting Customer Success Managers across Oracle Consumer Industries:

Why does it appear that Hospitality CSMs are carrying a disproportionate share of the reductions compared with Food & Beverage?

The question becomes more interesting when you consider the nature of the two businesses.

Hotel technology particularly at the enterprise level is incredibly complex. A Hospitality CSM may be dealing with global hotel companies operating hundreds or thousands of properties, OPERA Cloud deployments, integrations, payments, distribution, loyalty, partners, escalations and major transformation programs.

These aren't simply account-management roles. The best Hospitality CSMs often become the connective tissue between the customer, Support, Development, Consulting, Sales, Product and executive leadership.

If Hospitality is also delivering stronger profitability and margins than F&B, as some believe, the disparity becomes even more difficult to understand. It would be useful to see the actual numbers.

And there is another question that probably needs to be asked:

Does the background of the current Consumer Industries leadership play any role in how Customer Success resources are being allocated?

With leadership experience coming from the F&B side of the business, could there naturally be greater familiarity with or a different view of the F&B Customer Success model and its staffing requirements?

That doesn't mean anyone is deliberately protecting one organization at the expense of another. Nor is this an argument that F&B CSMs should be losing their jobs instead.

It's a question about whether the two businesses are being evaluated using the right criteria.

If Hospitality has greater customer complexity, larger enterprise transformations, significant integration requirements and attractive margins, what is the business rationale for deeper reductions in Hospitality Customer Success?

Maybe there is a good answer.

But employees and customers deserve to understand the strategy.

What metrics are actually determining where the CSM reductions occur and are Hospitality and F&B truly being evaluated on an equivalent basis?

I was genuinely happy to see that we are finally building a GCC for a bank—something we have all been looking forward to. However, as we have moved into execution, it increasingly feels like a single-person agenda. It no longer feels like a Truist GCC; it feels like a “T-GCC.”
The leadership style has been non-collaborative, with a lack of maturity and, at times, an abrasive communication style. There seems to be a strong personal agenda to maintain 100% control, creating significant friction and politics very early in what should be a long-term strategic capability.
I have always had great respect for SA, but I feel he has placed too much control with T. I am not sure whether he—or others involved—fully recognize how much friction and a negative culture have already been created.
We are already behind on this initiative, and I am concerned the current direction is taking us further away from where we need to be. I am becoming skeptical about moving my function into the GCC because I genuinely question whether it will help us achieve what we intended.
It is also surprising that HR, Risk, GSD… are allowing this to continue. what is our GCC partner doing about it ?
What we seed today will grow within the GCC. If we continue to seed friction, politics, and a lack of collaboration, that is the culture we will ultimately build.

I guess 100 million to mckinsey wasn't enough

EOM

Belk’s workplace culture is antiquated and old school, as is the customer base.

The customer base is dying. Literally. Belk’s customers are kicking the bucket and there is nobody to replace them.

33 Directors + 3 VPs + 2 SVPs = A tone-deaf waste of time and money.

The math is hard to ignore - between flights, lodging, meals, and lost working hours, this easily represents close to a half-million dollar investment. For that expense, I'd expect a concrete deliverable: a roadmap, reorg decision, or a prioritized set of initiatives with owners and dates. As far as I can tell, none of that has materialized - nor will it. No memo, no readout, no change in direction.

This seems like a good moment to ask a harder question: why does IT currently support a director population this large relative to its actual scope of delivery? A retreat of this size implies a leadership bench that, on paper, should be shaping strategy, but the day-to-day experience for most of the org is that priorities shift reactively, tickets sit unworked, and nobody below the director layer can point to what these roles are actually accountable for.

If 39 directors and above can be pulled out of the building for a week with no discernible business impact, it's evidence the roles themselves may be over-provisioned.

So Dan's been here a Year... can anyone provide top 3 goals/strategies that is being implemented for Culture change?

I sit through All Hands and leave clueless.

Sampath at least repeated each session.

Strayer University must not of taught that to Directors.

Interesting Linkedin post with internal and external POV on the Hugo fiasco and the resultant $700M investment for the right to sell someone elses robot?

https://lnkd.in/p/gN_sz95G

The drastic cuts
Restructured comp plans
Hold-out on commission payouts.
Gunning for EPS and headlines.

NVIDIA would never move to reduce its revenue-per-head (RPH). Our executives should not be offended. It’s not practical to compare Dell RPH to NVIDIA. Server production (and rest of Dell portfolio) in a predominantly direct-sales model will always yield higher operational cost than chip manufacturing in an alliance/OEM model.

MD should be proud of the massive company and portfolio of products he built. Dell ranks only slightly below median RPH compared to similar businesses.

The long-term strategy (and legacy) would be to treat employees well. Don’t go down like this MD.

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?

I know very little about all sports, but I enjoyed watching the US Open this year. It seems like the right size sport to measure whether the sport offense strategy is working (running for example way more disjointed and hard to comprehend). 2 years of EH feels like enough time to do some dummy analysis.

Mens winner wore Adidas

Womens winner wore an Asian brand I don't know

Mens runner up who seems very marketable/American wore On

Our top player Alcaraz is wearing Travis Scott backwards Swoosh stuff (this is not "innovation" and not sport related)

I can't find any exclusive shoe of a top player we sponsor online

Tennis Warehouse which looks to be the biggest retailer in tennis showcases us the same way online that Fleet Feet running does for our running stuff

I can't find any decent brand/storytelling about Alcaraz, Sinner (Google says he didn't play), Sabalenka. I remember we used to do this well during the Sampras Agassi era.

Serena and Osaka both past their prime but feels like we focus a lot on marketing them despite their wearing old models/non Nike retail stuff and on the back end of their careers.

Product seemed boring/bland/no innovation compared to other brands. That's in everything I could find abut design and what the swag actually is.

Which GM or VP leads this? Do you think they think we were successful in the biggest tennis sport event of the year? How much do we make off this business and should we exit to win in areas we are more realistic in? I wonder how much we pay top athletes and what the ROI is.

Nike will have upswing eventually.
When hot brands Hoka, On, adidas, Asics slow down, it will have its chance.

the job for Nike is to be ready when that chance comes up.
Not sure if EH will be here 3 years down the line but Nike needs to be ready for the chance that it will have to move up.
It is not if but rather when and how much ready you will be to take advantage when the opportunity comes up

Athina repeatedly says she has PepsiCo’s best interests in mind. But at some point, employees should be able to ask whether the actions and results support that statement.

When she led Strategy & Transformation (legacy before IT was combined) , significant amounts of money were spent on transformation efforts that did not deliver the expected results, with accountability seemingly landing elsewhere. Millions more have been spent on McKinsey and other external consultant this year and last year/ sometimes with very junior consultants advising experienced PepsiCo leaders.

Now Athina appears not to trust her own leadership organization and wants visibility into virtually every contract and decision. Is that really about PepsiCo’s best interests, or has decision-making become too centralized around one leader’s view of what is best?

Having PepsiCo’s best interests in mind does not mean that every decision is automatically the right one. Strong leadership means trusting capable leaders, challenging decisions with facts, acknowledging when investments have not delivered, and holding yourself to the same accountability you expect from everyone else.

Power and good intentions are not substitutes for results.

Perfectly said, @ke+1m28zmvnw.

Our HR leader’s 30+ strategy deck makes no sense. Gibberish. No wonder employees are not valued or recognized. There is no strategy.

I keep hearing Proxxima is supposed to be this big thing but no one is buying it. Did someone lie to get a promotion again?

Is this the next algae? Or Yoshi fuel delivery?

Leadership keeps treating employees like cr-p, and we're just supposed to be okay with it. We have two CEOs, endless bureaucracy, bloated management, and a company direction that makes no sense - but somehow the problem is never with those above us.

A union would finally put a stop to treating employees like pawns, and force leadership to make real strategic decisions instead of hiding behind short-term tactical ones.

they were flying for so long in auto pilot that it was time to turn the plane or land the plane they realized that they forgot to land the darn thing.
EH never flew the plane so he does not know how to land so he is going on a circle probably until he figures out how to (it has been 2 years) or until it runs out of gas which could be catastrophic.

Now, I will not say that this is unique to Nike because it happens all the time but Nike was throne for so long that he does not put up a fight to reverse the tide.

I have no idea how to spell that subject line and was too lazy to look it up.

Enrique spoke yesterday and he basically trashed the business model Alex put into place and said PayPal focused too much on merchants at the cost of consumers.

When Alex came in he trashed the model Dan had in place and said we focused too much on large enterprise at the cost of small businesses. So he hired Gill and lifted that whole pillar. We know what happened to that when Enrique joined.

It’s absolutely clear to me that Enrique is throwing the last spaghetti on the wall and praying it sticks. So now, sc--w you branded checkout and merchants. We are a consumer first company. Good luck! Wall Street responds as Wall Street responds.

https://www.investing.com/news/transcripts/paypal-at-goldman-sachs-communacopia--technology-conference-reset-deepens-93CH-4894720

Last few years, Nike was concerned about what Wall Street thought and jumped through the hoops to make it look good for the them.

Now that they are not part of the index, they should be worried making shoes that matters to public. And forget about Wall Street.

Options that Xerox should consider for the business include a joint venture, strategic capital partnership, alternative funding structures, partial monetization, or a sale of some or all of the business, according to Starteepo.

Xerox holder calls for strategic review of financial services business.

Humana said on its July 29, 2026 earnings call that 2027 plan exits will affect “approximately 600,000 members” and that “the majority of the plan exits were in plans with three and a half or lower ratings.” CFO Celeste Mellet described the strategy as cutting off “the lower tail of profitability.”

So, instead of trying to fix whatever it was that got dinged and caused Humana to lose Stars ratings from CMS, instead Humana just simply drips those plans where they were failing, so their overall ratings go up and then take their ball in go home. Sounds like a quitter mentality. And besides, who does it hurt? Oh wait, that’s right! It hurts our members!

I wonder if next our school system will allow kids to simply throw out any failing or bad test scores or bad grades, so as to raise up their overall grade.

I have done extensive research about the F200, the top 200 locations out of the 350 that Macy's is keeping open past 2029, or the 2028 fiscal year in which they have expanded the Bold New Chapter Plan until.

Please read the entire post and my footnote at the bottom.

F125 Stores
Arizona
Chandler Fashion Center - Chandler
Santan Village - Gilbert
Arrowhead Towne Center - Glendale
Biltmore Fashion Park - Phoenix
Scottsdale Fashion Square - Scottsdale
California
Westfield Santa Anita - Arcadia
Valley Plaza Mall - Bakersfield
Brea Mall - Brea
Westfield Topanga - Canoga Park
Los Cerritos Center - Cerritos
Sun Valley Shopping Center - Concord
South Coast Plaza - Costa Mesa
Culver City Center - Culver City
Stonewood Center - Downey
Fashion Fair Mall - Fresno
Glendale Galleria - Glendale
Century City - Los Angeles
Vintage Faire Mall - Modesto
Montebello - Montebello
Fashion Island - Newport Beach
Northridge Fashion Center - Northridge
Stanford Shopping Center - Palo Alto
Victoria Gardens - Rancho Cucamonga
Westfield Galleria at Roseville - Roseville
Arden Fair Mall - Sacramento
Fashion Valley - San Diego
Westfield UTC - San Diego
Hillsdale Mall - San Mateo
Westfield Valley Fair - Santa Clara
Westfield Fashion Square - Sherman Oaks
Del Amo Fashion Center - Torrance
Broadway Plaza - Walnut Creek
Colorado
Cherry Creek Mall - Denver
Connecticut
Danbury Fair - Danbury
Westfarms Mall - Farmington
Delaware
Christiana - Newark
Florida
Aventura - Aventura
Boca Town Center - Boca Raton
Coral Square - Coral Springs
International Mall West Dade - Doral
Galleria in Fort Lauderdale - Fort Lauderdale
Westland - Hialeah
Dadeland - Miami
The Falls - Miami
South Beach - Miami Beach
Florida Mall - Orlando
The Mall at Millenia - Orlando
Palm Beach Gardens - Palm Beach Gardens
Pembroke Lakes Mall - Pembroke Pines
Broward Mall - Plantation
University Town Center - Sarasota
The Mall at Wellington Green - Wellington
Georgia
Lenox Square Mall - Atlanta
Mall of Georgia - Buford
Perimeter Mall - Dunwoody
Hawaii
Ala Moana Center - Honolulu
Illinois
State Street - Chicago
Oakbrook - Oak Brook
Orland Square - Orland Park
Woodfield - Schaumburg
Old Orchard - Skokie
Indiana
Castleton Square - Indianapolis
Maryland
Montgomery Mall - Bethesda
Mall at Prince George - Hyattsville
Massachusetts
Boston - Boston
South Shore Mall - Braintree
Natick - Natick
North Shore Mall - Peabody
Michigan
Twelve Oaks - Novi
Somerset - Troy
Minnesota
Mall of America - Bloomington
Missouri
West County Center - Des Peres
Saint Louis Galleria - Richmond Heights
Nevada
Fashion Show - Las Vegas
New Hampshire
Mall at Rockingham Park - Salem
New Jersey
Bridgewater - Bridgewater
Cherry Hill - Cherry Hill
Menlo Park - Edison
Jersey City - Jersey City
Quaker Bridge - Lawrenceville
Paramus Garden State Plaza - Paramus
Short Hills - Short Hills
Willowbrook - Wayne
New York
Bay Plaza - Bronx
Kings Plaza - Brooklyn
Walden Galleria - Buffalo
Flushing - Flushing
Roosevelt Field - Garden City
Walt Whitman Mall - Huntington Station
Manhasset - Manhasset
Herald Square - New York
Queens - Rego Park in Elmhurst
Staten Island - Staten Island
Green Acres - Valley Stream
Palisades Center - West Nyack
Cross County - Yonkers
Ohio
Kenwood Towne Center - Cincinnati
Easton Town Center - Columbus
Oregon
Clackamas Town Center - Clackamas
Washington Square - Tigard
Pennsylvania
King of Prussia - King Of Prussia
Ross Park Mall - Pittsburgh
Puerto Rico
Plaza Del Caribe - Ponce
Plaza Las Américas - San Juan
Tennessee
Green Hills - Nashville
Texas
The Domain - Austin
NorthPark Center - Dallas
Cielo Vista Mall - El Paso
BayBrook - Friendswood
Stonebriar Centre - Frisco
Dallas Galleria - Dallas
Firewheel Town Center - Garland
Deerbrook - Humble
Galleria at Houston - Houston
Memorial City - Houston
Willowbrook Mall - Houston
La Plaza Mall - McAllen
Pearland Town Center - Pearland (Not doing very well)
North Star Mall - San Antonio
First Colony Mall - Sugar Land
The Woodlands Mall - Woodlands
Virginia
Pentagon City - Arlington
Tysons Corner Center - McLean
Springfield - Springfield
Washington
Alderwood Mall - Lynnwood

Supposed NN75 Stores-- most are NN75 but some may be part of F125. However, they are all confirmed part of F200 regardless of order. Some are listed as stores appearing in the 2020 Growth 150 Stores.

Dayton Mall, Centerville, Ohio
Polaris Fashion Place, Columbus, Ohio
Short Pump Town Center, Richmond, Virginia
Fair Oaks Mall, Fairfax, Virginia
Lynnhaven Mall, Virginia Beach, Virginia
Dulles Town Center, Dulles, Virginia
The Streets at Southpoint, Durham, North Carolina
Deptford Mall, Deptford, New Jersey
Rockaway Town Square Mall, Rockaway Township, New Jersey
Freehold Raceway Mall, Freehold, New Jersey
Woodbridge Center, Woodbridge, New Jersey
Paramus Park Mall, Paramus, New Jersey
Metro Center, Washington D.C.
Woodland Mall, Kentwood, Michigan
MainPlace Mall, Santa Ana, California
Annapolis Mall, Annapolis, Maryland
Tucson Mall, Tucson, Arizona
Warwick Mall, Warwick, Rhode Island
The Parks At Arlington, Arlington, Texas
North East Mall, Hurst, Texas
Promenade Temecula, Temecula, California
Southland Mall, Cutler Bay, Florida
Galleria at Tyler, Riverside, California
Manhattan Village, Manhattan Beach, California
South Shore Mall, Bay Shore, New York
Smith Haven Mall, Lake Grove, New York
Gurnee Mills, Gurnee, Illinois
Bellevue Square, Bellevue, Washington
Burlington Mall, Burlington, Massachusetts (Growth150 2020)
The Mall in Columbia, Columbia, Maryland (Growth150 2020)
Willow Grove Park, Willow Grove, Pennsylvania (Growth150 2020)
Westfield Plaza Bonita, National City, California (Growth150 2020)
Lone Tree, Lone Tree, Colorado (Growth50/150 2020)
Barton Creek Square, Austin, Texas (Growth150 2020)
Coronado Center, Albuquerque, New Mexico (Growth150 2020)
Valencia Town Center, Santa Clarita, California (Growth150 2020)
Westfield Countryside, Clearwater, Florida (Growth150 2020)
Southcenter Mall, Tukwila, Washington (Growth150 2020)
The Shops at Palm Desert, Palm Desert, California (Growth150 2020)
Stonebridge Shopping Center, Pleasanton, California (Growth150 2020)
Santa Rosa Plaza, Santa Rosa, California (Growth150 2020)
University Park Mall, Mishawaka, Indiana (Growth150 2020)
Meadowood Mall, Reno, Nevada (Growth 150 2020)
Pheasant Lane Mall, Nashua, New Hampshire (Growth150 2020)
SouthPark Mall, Strongsville, Ohio (Growth150 2020)
South Hills Village, Bethel Park, Pennsylvania (Growth150 2020)
LeHigh Valley Mall, Whitehall, Pennsylvania (Growth150 2020)
Wolfchase Galleria, Memphis, Tennessee (Growth150 2020)
Columbia Center, Kennewick, Washington (Growth150 2020)
Tacoma Mall, Tacoma, Washington (Growth150 2020)
The Shoppes at Carlsbad, Carlsbad, California (Growth150 2020)
Chula Vista Center, Chula Vista, California (Growth150 2020)
Cumberland Mall, Cobb County, Georgia (Growth150 2020)
Boise Towne Square, Boise, Idaho (Growth150 2020)
Glenbrook Square, Fort Wayne, Indiana (Growth150 2020)
Oxmoor Center, Louisville, Kentucky (Growth150 2020)
Towson Town Center, Towson, Maryland (Growth150 2020)
Coastland Center, Naples, Florida (Growth150 2020)

These are 183 stores confirmed to be part of the F200 list that Macy's is invested in. If anyone has any thoughts about stores that are omitted or some that need to be removed, let me know. If you work at one of these stores, but feel that sales have been slowing down a little, let me know also. (An employee told me about slow sales for the Pearland location that is supposedly F125). This is not some Macys corporate social experiment but I am actually researching so let me know any thoughts about this list.

All in all, the some stores in F125 may need to be in NN75, and vice versa, but these 180 or so stores all definitely part of the F200 list that they are invested in.

I have counted to be 183, tho I may be wrong.

This is a link to SBD's strategy going forward. It is an article from industry week with quotes from the CEO. You are welcome to draw your own inferences from this article. Even pictures of saw blades...
https://www.industryweek.com/leadership/companies-executives/news/55037934/ceo-stanley-black-decker-likely-to-sell-more-units

What we want:

1. For American Citizens to not be replaced with Non-Citizens
2. For American Humans to not be replaced with AI
3. For Health Insurance Corporations to do much better at stopping Fraud, Waste, and Abuse
4. For Health Insurance Corporations to stop delaying and denying legitimate patient health claims, regardless of the cost
5. For Health Insurance Corporations to out patient health before cost savings and shareholder profits
6. For Health Insurance Executives to stop being paid anything greater than $1 million per year (remembering that 85% of their salary is coming from government funded tax payer dollars)
7. For costly Data Centers to not use up so water to be used for energy source*
8. For Data Centers to pay their own way when it comes to electricity*

• The last two items are not within the direct control of health insurance corporations, although they have a large hand in lobbying and campaigning for Data Centers to be placed all over the country, including (and especially) within the same states for which they operate.

Another layoff coming..... how far Ally has falllen ever since this new leadership team has joined is so very sad. Time for the board to wake the f up!!! Micheal Rhodes is on the spectrum, Hope is a mute, Lindsay is an absolute id--t. She was hired to drive deposit strategy, then she hires a guy to figure out strategy and he hires a guy to figure out strategy.... still no strategy! A bank with no products. A company with a decaying culture.

It's beyond a disgrace; how low can you go. Begging for shots to customers to keep the community healthy YET sell cigarettes is that for the health too? Begging for credit cards. Blow up birthday balloons that don't sell. What FOOLS. Beyond embarrassing. What a pathetic company.

Managing Director told us that previously discussed date of 10/8 might change because of “leakers”. They may be pushing back to later in month or November, but want to do it before Thanksgiving to avoid 1/1 Readiness impact. As if losing people won’t make 1/1 harder.

Crazy. Is this the Pentagon, where leakers will punished and beatings will continue until morale improves?

Also there seem to be no answers about strategy and goals for end of year, early next year or beyond, except for vague Lead to One support.

My gut tells me Evanko went in without a plan and doesn’t know WTF to do now. We will just tell everyone our products are now shipping through the open Strait of Hormuz. Cigna won the war!!!

I could not believe my eyes when I read the email yesterday from the leadership on new strategy. Dividing our markets into core, light and cross border will further weaken PP against Revolut outside US and Germany. And how long after Germans who travel outside and see everyone using Revolut decide to switch over themselves. This will weaken us against our competitors even further. I see share price and market share collapsing now to likes of Apple Pay and Revolut Pay.

ArsenalBio is undergoing a significant restructuring, laying off 99 employees to focus on in vivo CAR-T therapy. This strategic shift involves halting development of the company's ex vivo clinical assets. The biotech was once a strong fundraiser, securing substantial investments and partnerships. The company is now seeking new opportunities for its existing technology and assets. This move places ArsenalBio in a competitive field with several established players.

San Francisco, California

https://www.fiercebiotech.com/biotech/arsenalbio-sheds-most-staff-pivot-vivo-car-t

It’s a little weird right? How do Voyix strategic decisions or layoffs have anything to do with Atleos at this point?