So many layoffs at Follett, but never the senior positions like presidents, vice presidents etc. They set the strategy for Follett to succeed, and when Follett fails THEY lay off the little guys who execute the strategy. This is not an execution issue it is a leadership issue. Follett will soon be out of business if there is not new leadership at the top.
18 replies (most recent on top)
Heres the thing, and you see it if you are in the office. The leadership at director level ARE worker bees, too busy running leadership's insane and constantly changing directives. Above that, they are all scared, stressed, and in-fighting. If you are not in the line of fire, its fantastic to watch their ridiculous behaviour. It's like live Survivor.
Then why the warehouse in woodridge is bringback temps anything to catch up work. Then layoff union members in the fall
Leadership holds you accountable and layoffs you off if you don't deliver. Leadership needs to be held to the same standard.
I wouldn't say that bad management is entirely to blame. Between Textbooks and Book Fairs, and warehouses packed to the ceiling with unsold books.....future doesn't look good.
23 years and had 8 different presidents. B&T right?
I was there 23 years and had 8 different presidents. That’s a lot of turn over and each president changed course and we had to change everything over and over.
That's what happens when you have the under educated, bottom of the class leading you. Missed Management 101 and the concept of span of management.
Of course, those that were kept were their buddies.
And the Family pays.
Book Fairs laid over 35 people yet they still have the same number of supervisors.
What about Book Fairs? Ran by a clique of former Scholastic rejects that pulled the wool over Follett's eyes causing millions in spending and lost revenue. The VP of Book Fair operations quit, yet, there they all are, not one manager living in Illinois, laughing all the way to the bank while dozens of the little worker bees are now on permanent layoff. Get rid of the dead weight.
Too funny, Amazon and Beezos bought the Kiva's right out from under Follett. Bye, bye ADC! Smartest guys in the room, we'll warehouse the used books in all our stores! But we won't give them the resources to handle that task. Another unfunded mandate! Yeah!
worlds greatest leaders couldn't do anything about.
That's broad. That's forgiving.
20 years ago Amazon wasn't much and Beezos was merely a fairly wealthy man. He seemed to figure it out OK.
Oh, do you mean the pandemic? Japan has done OK. They don't have 130,000 dead (but neither does any other country).
In both of these cases the wrong leadership making poorly informed decisions have caused a lot of hurt. Both could have been done better (and were done better by others).
Prudent decisions 10 to 15 years ago would have have left the company in a much better shape than it is in now. Doing nothing would have been a better decision that those that the smartest people in the room made.
As you sit in the Ivory Tower, look around and think about your decisions.
SEVERAL corporate offices directors and VPs that have been laid off.
How about if they had NEVER been hired?
This is untrue. There have been SEVERAL corporate offices directors and VPs that have been laid off. There’s also several examples of individuals in those levels quitting and not being replaced. Also, there have been several notable retirements lately (VPs, EVP, CEO). It’s just an educated guess, but I’d say those were most likely pressured retirements in order to ease up cash flow burden from payroll. Note that none of those roles are being replaced, but rather absorbed by others.
The pain of this season is being felt at all levels of the business. Time will tell if the company can climb out through continued transformation and restructuring. Leadership should be held accountable, but remember that it’s also an industry that is in a tailspin that even the worlds greatest leaders couldn’t do anything about
What is follett about? What value does follett bring? Why should follett exist tomorrow?
After more than 20 years in a store, I knew those answers as pertained to my store. I never knew the answers of those questions when applied to follett. Can management answer those questions? Does management ask those questions of itself? Do they share their answers with you?
Seems to me that there is a clique in senior management that never leave, never are held accountable yet manage to blame everyone else for their stupid ideas.
Look at the Follett web site. you'll see plenty of pictures of them slapping each other on the back and grinning like id–ts like they're the next Elon Musk.
"Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results."
(not an Einstein quote)
But as another poster said, the family is paying for it.
They fired one CEO.
Let's not forget about 5 or 6 VP's.
No one is spared at Follett.
There’s been new leadership at the top every couple years for the last decade, yet here we are
Senior management NEVER fails. Just ask them, they will tell you. You own their total incompetence. The family pays for this so good!