Is there some special class that GE sends SEB and above where once they reach that level they lose all their social skills and ability to even acknowledge those below them in the hallway? Are they now just robots or do they all feel now that they’ve so called “made it” their egos are such that the human side is gone. Maybe Crotonville should offer special classes for them in humanity,apathy and sensitivity training....just saying!
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Worshiping execs is institutional at GE. Both line managers and GM levels practice and preach kowtowing to “leaders” just to avoid any trouble. No honesty in either direction. People bad mouth the “leaders” as soon as they leave and leaders bad mouth the s---ups as soon as they get outside public setting. Candor is dead to avoid friction and there is this weird dance of making the exec look good and execs doing the dance of looking knowledgeable. Incompetence and s---ing up are two sides of same coin.
Change starts at top Years of bad Culture won’t change overnight.
There are two dimensions to this.
Several posters have highlighted the practice of promoting young, inexperienced people out of college into positions of senior leadership and moving them up through the ranks, multiple roles and titles, on an accelerated timetable and without any significant depth of involvement and merit -- thereby promulgating an insidious culture of incompetence, ignorance, and in many cases, sadly, arrogance. All along, while extending a steadfast, unconditional support to such failed leaders… effectively, keeping their careers on life support.
People on the ground floor have lamented this major failure of leadership programs administered by the company, which have made a mockery of the officially espoused concept of meritocracy. They have been begging for the system to give them true, competent, experienced, and enlightened leaders.
On the other hand, there have been also cases of specific individuals in senior roles clearly having suffered from the executive ego syndrome. The manifested behavioral patterns have been common enough to suspect a methodical and institutionalized inculcation of the concept of dispassionate and forceful projection of organizational power, including application of such crude tools as shouting and public expressions of arrogance and disrespect. Select folks have been observed – as leaders in the making – to have been transformed from normal, likeable human beings they used to be into steel-hearted robots spitting bullets whenever they open their mouth.
Crotonville is aware and officially denounces such behaviors as misplaced personal choice. In principle, it is hard not to agree with this assessment, as some leaders have chosen to be kind, respectful, and compassionately human.
There must be a class on this. Someone has designed and green-lighted it. Results are for all to see.
better yet, maybe they should all be thrown out and Crotonville with it. time to cut the elitist bs. company has not been a meritocracy for quite some time
Yes there are classes some internal and some external. They even get taught how to dress! The cost of some of the classes is more than the average american makes in a year
This is a very honest and true post. Should be on glassdoor as well.
Ego...gets you every time. They feel it is a do as I say not as I do right of passage. Egos were what ruined this what was once a great company. Culture not changing at top. Culp needs to bring in more outside big Leaders...fix the culture of collaboration through all levels not just the lower organizational layers. Old guard needs to go starting with HR... same old rhetoric...nothing new just keep reducing people while the top layers remain in place.
I could tell you about this class, but then I'd have to kill you. :) Seriously, since the days Jack Welch, we've tended to promote overconfident, arrogant, kiss-up/kick-down leaders. Flannery talked about changing our culture to allow more candor. That was treating a symptom, but not the core problem.