Thread regarding Cengage layoffs

"Did we hear announcements about major new products? Did we hear about major new content investments? Did we hear clear business results? Did we hear the numbers employees have been asking about for months?"

No, of course not. "Investment(s)" is a dirty word in the Cengage PE world right now. But no one was expecting to hear such things from this leadership group. Everyone expected to hear the spin and the vaporous talk about research and AI and all of that because that is what PE-led leadership in these positions do. They tap dance. Everyone knows this.

Everyone, apparently, except for you.

"But simply yelling "fake" every time someone criticizes management isn't an argument. It's an admission that you don't have one."

Everyone is criticizing management. As everyone should. Accepting that management is simply performing the circus tricks their PE overlords demand of them is the norm. The question, here, is why do you continually whine that "normal company things" are not happening within this very abnormal company? Is it so beyond your understanding, dear Francis, that you cannot see the professional situation you find yourself sitting in for what it is??

You are wasting your time. Or more importantly, you're wasting ours. Spare us the whine, spare us the victimization posture. Mama Cengage ain't got no more teets to share with you, this cow has been suctioned dry.

@av oooh, which meeting? I’d love to hear more details about what he actually said

MH is a loser like his buddy Sen Husted. Slimy.

@at Yes they did vote it down! Nuts!

I think it must be MH or one of his sons. in a meeting MH has mentioned this site and his disgust for it.

@ar someone actually downvoted the advice to listen to the earnings call! You cant make it up!

A whole suite of new products? LOL.

Is that what you're telling investors too? That the company didn't lose market share or sales, it simply invested its way into a "whole suite" of products?

Maybe the $100 million decline everyone is worried about isn't a sales problem at all. Maybe it's really a $100 million investment in innovation. Sounds much better that way, right?

Let's be honest. Giving the website a facelift, adding AI features to MindTap that many faculty and students still aren't asking for, and posting a 3-second simulation teaser video featuring DP isn't exactly the product revolution we've been hearing about for years. Blink and you'll miss the video. For something that's supposedly so important, the commitment and substance behind the message seem remarkably thin.

Remember Dallas? Remember all the promises? The excitement? The story about where the products were headed?

Yet here we are years later, and management is still talking about research, AI, faculty observations, student outcomes, simulations, and future opportunities.

Press releases don't equal sales.
Product showcases don't equal sales.
Marketing videos don't equal sales.

Revenue equals sales.
Market share equals sales.
Customer adoption equals sales.

That's why employees keep asking about the numbers instead of the press releases.

November 17th is what matters. That's when the real conversation starts. Not when another product announcement is published. Not when another promotional video is released.

The numbers will tell the story.

Until then, we're expected to believe everything is going according to plan while employees continue to leave, customers continue to complain, and morale continues to sink.

If this "whole suite of products" is truly changing the business, the results should be obvious. If they're not, then all we're really talking about is marketing.

After 15 years, the responsibility for the results belongs to leadership. The question employees are asking is becoming harder to ignore: when do the outcomes finally match the promises?

MH when is your last day? Is DP your replacement? It sure seems like everything is heading for a take over by DP.

@OP Everyone , the earnings call is on November 17th. The link is on the company website under the “investor tab” anyone can join and listen. Download the presentation and run it through AI. Interrogate the balance sheet. Watch for the “pivot to Research” message. There’s always a new story. The numbers will be there. Should be interesting. They will try and dress it up but looking below the surface will reveal the true state of things. If you can’t listen live , the recording will be there as well as the presentation for download

@ap You really are a mo--n, aren't you?

@a4 you really are a Kool aid drinker aren’t you?

@OP Hey Sleepy Joe, what are you talking about? The company has launched an entire suite of new products and platforms over the past two years. Perhaps this is why you are su-king at selling. Consider visiting the press release section of the website or reading the internal product releases or attending the product showcases. You have to be completely blind to not see any of that. Why don't you start by reaching out to the product teams and talking to them?

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

LOL. When MH invoked KT's name during the call, I had to laugh. KT wasn't even on the call, yet somehow she still made an appearance.

Maybe "babysitter" really is the right title. The way her name comes up, you'd think she's there to keep an eye on things and report back on how the empire is running.

Then there's DP at the Board meeting. Between KT, DP, and the increasing level of oversight, it certainly feels like more people are being brought closer to the inner circle.

Which brings me to the fun question...

If MH is Caesar, then who is Brutus?

NK? MW? Barbwire? SW?

History tells us leaders rarely fall because of pressure from the outside. It usually comes from the people standing closest to them.

The real entertainment over the next few months may not be watching what happens to employees. It may be watching how the executive team behaves as the pressure continues to build and everyone starts protecting their own seat at the table.

@a6 Fair point. It is my opinion, and I never claimed otherwise.

But let's be honest. Employees don't form opinions in a vacuum. They're formed after months of layoffs, resignations, reorganizations, territory disruptions, missing reporting tools, declining morale, customer complaints, and constant messaging about future opportunities rather than current results.

As for today's presentation, I wasn't referring to any single slide or comment. I'm referring to the broader pattern. When employees are asking about business performance, staffing, turnover, and strategy, but the conversation keeps focusing on research, AI, future possibilities, and observations, some people naturally conclude that leadership is trying to steer the conversation away from topics they don't want to address.

You may not see pressure. That's your opinion. I see a leadership team that has spent months defending a reorganization that many employees believe is failing, while confidence in management continues to decline.

The good news is we don't have to argue about it forever. Eventually the numbers, employee retention, customer retention, and business performance will tell the story. That's a much more objective measure than either of our opinions.

@a5 "At some point, all the messaging in the world can't hide what's happening. People can sense when leadership is under pressure. And right now, it certainly feels like the pressure is building."

This is your assumption which is grounded in no actual fact. Nothing about today's presentation gave me or anyone else a perspective that anyone is under pressure. What in the world are you talking about?

LOL. "Made up story?"

We literally just sat through the First Friday call with the CEO. Tell me specifically what I got wrong.

Did we not spend a significant amount of time talking about research, career readiness, faculty observations, student outcomes, AI, and data?

Did we hear announcements about major new products? Did we hear about major new content investments? Did we hear clear business results? Did we hear the numbers employees have been asking about for months?

Instead of calling people names, tell us what's incorrect.

That's the problem with many of the leadership defenders on this board. They never challenge the substance of what's being said. They just attack the person posting it.

If morale is great, say so. If leadership is executing brilliantly, explain how. If the strategy is working, point to the results.

But simply yelling "fake" every time someone criticizes management isn't an argument. It's an admission that you don't have one.

@a3 lol, another made up story in your brain. Good luck with that. Anyone reading this mo--n's post and believing them is just as brain dead.

LOL. Did anyone else catch that?

At the end of the call, MH couldn't help but bring up "KT" yet again. It's funny because she wasn't even on the call, but somehow she was still living rent-free in the conversation.

Whenever leadership starts name-dropping certain people, it makes you wonder what's happening behind the scenes.

The real question is whether the recent Board discussions went as smoothly as we're being led to believe. Employees have been hearing rumors for months, and the level of anxiety coming from the top seems to be increasing, not decreasing.

Meanwhile, employees are being told to focus on research, AI, career readiness, simulations, and the next big idea, while morale continues to suffer and confidence in leadership continues to erode.

At some point, all the messaging in the world can't hide what's happening. People can sense when leadership is under pressure.

And right now, it certainly feels like the pressure is building.

Simulations? So we're finally getting simulations? LOL.

McGraw Hill has been selling simulations and interactive learning experiences for years while we've been stuck pushing the same stagnant decision-making content.

Now we're acting like simulations are some revolutionary breakthrough.

No research required. No massive studies required. Just take a look at what competitors have been doing successfully while they've been taking market share.

While we're busy researching, analyzing, observing, and collecting data, the competition has been building products and selling them.

The real question is: why are we always years behind the market?

At some point, we need to stop studying what customers want and start delivering what they've already been buying from our competitors.

No new products... just more research?!? Groundhog Day at Cengage.

We have data! We have AI! We have research! LOL.

What a waste of time.

Let's observe students after they graduate. Let's follow them when they get their first job. Let's conduct more research. Let's gather more insights. Let's create more reports.

Meanwhile, where are the new products? Where are the major content investments? Where is the innovation we've been hearing about for years?

"Research" has become the new corporate buzzword. Every problem gets answered with another study, another survey, another insight, another AI-generated analysis.

At some point, you have to stop researching and start building.

It feels like we're replacing product development with PowerPoint slides and replacing innovation with AI summaries that leadership calls "research."

Same meeting. Same talking points. Same promises.

Just a different month.