Anyone know how they decide who will get cut? Do they hire someone from the outside? Do VP decide? Do they just pick departments and cut? How do they pick who is spared.
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I’m a Nike VP. There is a dartboard in my office with pictures of my team on it. I put a blindfold on and whomever I hit is gone.
I use the same methodology for product decisions. As you can tell by the stock price, it’s working out great!
The process is wholly political. The head of the org ultimately has final say. Reviews usually don’t matter, but if you have a bad mark (i.e. “inconsistent”), you are gone. All that matters is who is in the room with the head of the org— typically HR and maybe another VP or two. If you are universally liked by leadership and your team or function is being dissolved, you may get a life raft to another org or geo.
Easiest way to think about it…do you think your job could be done by someone at PHK focused on it 10-15% of their time while 2 people in India are focused on it 50% with an AI tool (cursor/copilot) with direction from person at PHK. Highly execution oriented. No one is looking to you for strategy. Just ownership of a task or process. If that’s you, then I’d be concerned. Or you sit in a cost center/APLA.
During the last reorg, tech SDs were given #s to meet and they made the decisions on who to cut on their teams by the deadline.
@ab Has the best summary of it.
Also, because Nike is an old slow dinosaur, decisions usually trickle down each step of the hierarchy over the course of 1-3 months.
So C suite knows they want to make cuts today, but the actual numbers will probably take 2-3 months to trickle down to the VPs who will then take 2-3 months to figure out how to implement it. That's assuming it isn't a situation where they just outsource the decisionmaking to a third party using a spreadsheet and darts, like with the "pound of flesh" situation with JD.
There is no "right" answer to your question because it varies from layoff to layoff and team to team. Often the VP does have a hand in making the decision where they are given a headcount target and they work to meet that quota so they will have input and influence.
Other times a VP themselves may be getting cut so the decisions are made above them. Sometimes it's a consultant led process and the leaders have less say.
Like most corporate decisions a lot of it comes down to political alliances and personal preferences (individual value rationale can always be reverse engineered after the fact). If you are well liked and known to be a producer by the VP personally that can help.
This upcoming multi year layoff has such a huge scope and impact even the well protected are vulnerable because the cut mandates are going to be so deep for some teams there won't be any room for choices.
I realize this doesn't help a ton but in a way it can be freeing to know there isn't necessarily a lot you can do at this point. Although the decisions are not landed yet, I think most VPs have an idea who they're going to cut. If you still care enough about your job to try to keep it then I'd recommend try to deliver as much value as you can that is going to be understood and recognized by leadership but don't ki-l yourself over the work because it may not matter in the end.
This should help.
Estimated — Nike Director+ (U.S.) Leadership Diversity Trends (2015 → 2024)
• White (non-Hispanic): ↓ 12% - 15%
• Non-White (racial/ethnic minorities): ↑ 45% - 60%
• Women: ↑ 20% - 30%
• Men: ↓ 15% - 20%
• Minority leadership: ↑ 30% - 40%
• Women in leadership: ↑ 15% - 20%
If you don’t know how to keep your name off the list, it’s on the list.