On a recent visit to Home office, I noticed an open bar (with paid servers) providing free beer and wine each evening we were there. I’m at a bit of a loss as to how this helps clients and why it is better to have this than the home office representatives who were laid off.
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@c8 when you calculate and deceive yourself thinking new and paid for opinions matter more than history, history will repeat and prove different.
Penny and KJ have to go.
@er don’t feel bad for any of them. They would have a padded severance package compared to pocket change associates received.
@cd kj isn’t exactly showing up as the transformational leader either. She needs to resign and let some more competent people do the job.
Penny needs to be locked away with Diddy for crimes against humanity.
Cheers
@ er There are people who themselves or their family members may end up in the hospital and/or the food pantry line or not being able to get the healthcare they or their loved ones need. These are decisions she has made. She has infuriated people. There are so many people VSP'd, ISP'd, demoted, and doing more work for at best the same amount of pay who loathe her. Absolutely no one respects her. So, if these people do end up in those places and it is considered just doing good business then if Penny ends up in a padded room rocking back and forth due to excess stress then that is just the cost of doing good business too.
@cd Haha, the only people that care about anything KJ has to say are the people that are unfortunately forced to work for or near her, and that's only because they have to. She's awful.
I don't necessarily feel bad for PP, since she made the bed and as such she needs to lay in it. That said, I don't necessarily want her to end up in a padded room, rocking herself back and forth, crying, and eating fe--s out of the toilet either.
She made some terrible decisions and even WORSE hires/promotions, but that should result in her and the other bad actors exit with no golden parachutes. It won't happen, but it's what should.
@c8 I was aware of the article a few years ago. Two things I find interesting are the first thing the writer stated that a lot of people he interviews act nice in public but are not truly nice people. I think that streak continued with his Penny interview. The next thing is when Penny said we call this an Edward Jones family (that did not age well). It is hard to get tone from Penny as this is a written article and not a video. It seemed she was very disengaged in the interview especially in the beginning and was not really interacting with the writer. Then she just went into her usual talking points. She brought up the company's 401k plan. Why was she gloating about that? Pretty much every employer has a 401k plan or some sort of retirement savings plan. She just has never gotten it. She needs to step down. Edward Jones needs to eliminate the 65 rule for managing partners and bring back Jim Weddle until a suitable replacement can be found. We could have hired any leader in the world and this is what we chose. It defies logic. If this continues much longer any leader who is worth anything will not want the managing partner position.
I am a branch associate in Texas and just saw Penny for the first time not too long ago. She at times was noticeably shaking as we posed for our photo op. I was not exactly sure what was going on.
Rumor has it KJ has showed concern that Penny is starting to crack under the pressure. She even is starting to think Penny was not cut out for this. Only time will tell.
Has anyone read this? PP (fitting, right? Or in the words of our Managing Partner…yeah, yeah and some more yeah.) Ted is rolling in his grave. Anyone want to count the amount of times she uses “I” or some first person verbiage in this interview? https://centerforsocialcapital.com/family-first-leadership-conversations-with-penny-pennington/
@ ah Glad to have you back! However, I believe you are much too kind. If I were to give my honest opinion of Penny I think I would use much harsher language and probably get banned from this forum. Keep up the good work.
@op Good question. This would be an excellent question for Penny to field. However, it is hard to field these questions when she is giving the trimester business update in front of branch associates at a branch conference in Scottsdale, AZ. The south campus in St. Louis also opened a new coffee bar which looks like the atrium of a Holiday Inn Express while laying off associates. Not exactly sure how selling overpriced coffee serves the clients better. The tenth floor (Penny's floor) was also renovated during Enterprise Reimagined. Penny said it was overspending at the beginning of her tenure as managing partner which has led to the first layoffs in over one hundred years at the firm. However, she keeps spending. She said she holds herself accountable yet keeps spending as she terminates people who had nothing to do with her overspending. We are in the business of managing other people's money. Penny has spent and is still spending wildly. How can we ask potential clients to allow us to manage their money when Penny cannot even manage the firm's assets without getting in trouble. When I look for someone to manage my money I do not look for someone who is living a flashy lifestyle. Most of the time people living a flashy lifestyle is just an illusion which eventually comes to an end. I look for someone who lives a comfortable lifestyle who looks to practicality instead of flashiness. With constant food, alcohol, new coffee bars, and unnecessary renovations for her floor she is causing the firm to live an illusion which someone is eventually going to have to pay for. Some people already have in the form of layoffs and demotions. If I was not required to have my assets here there is no way I would have my assets here knowing what I know. I have seen Penny. She is under constant stress because she knows she has built a house of cards that is currently collapsing. She knows even the people closest to her do not believe in her. Some of them are just waiting for her to fall to swoop in and pick at her remains to become the seventh managing partner. Shortly put, Penny is a failure.
No whisk-y? Lame.