#leadership

Billionaire Darwin Deason The Man Who Sold ACS To Xerox for $6.4 Billion in 2010 Passes Away at 85. (Xerox's Largest Chairholder)

Caroline (SVP) is visiting Lake Mary today. Anyone know the purpose of their visit a day prior to the last day of the folks affected by the layoffs? The leaders already look like they are putting on fake smiles and fake energy.

I’ve never before worked at a company where people who mess up majorly get rewarded. Why is this happening?

Meg, one of ours will be the next BP CEO. Shame she could have been the XOM CEO as she would be so much better than DWW or next in-line DA

Those of us who survived are still in limbo.. there is no new plan or no new priorities.

I do not know what’s going on

Dell is just moving the deck chairs around in the titanic for 2026. We’ve got the same leaders in ISG and CSG but in new positions because they’ve either laid off or the other good leaders quit or moved into different roles. Now we are stuck with the ignorant and arrogant. We are going to go through the same ideas but they’ll be “new” because they came from new, unqualified people who just have no business being in their roles. They way they got to them wasn’t by earning them but because people left or moved. Now we all have to deal with the “new” but not “new” ideas.

The realities are simple. We need better leadership. Leadership that’s not going to think they’re amazing but industry leaders with a real perspective on the industry.

Right now we’ve got a bunch of kids a$$ leaders who all have their own agenda. If you can leave in 2026 you should. It’s going to be a frustrating year.

BTW - hammer them on the eNPS.

Guess this puts to rest any concerns re financial challenges and ccc+ credit rating.
https://www.news.xerox.com/news/xerox-and-lexmark-recognized-as-sustainability-leaders-in-quocirca-2025-report

Time for leadership shakeup just like at bp. JC and crew need an extended break from value destruction.

Repsol has received very unflattering about Apache and its fiscal woes. So there goes the brilliant idea of shifting abandonment liability and a spin off

We have had a great speech watch party in 1500. Some men are still truly loyal to the man. Its ok if you feel that way towards him and our CEO.

DA CEO?

MM and SB getting in line for the MC?

Meanwhile:

https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/boards-policy-regulation/bp-appoints-meg-oneill-ceo-2025-12-17/

Digital activity has become a hot topic with leadership lately. We’re being told that if you don’t show consistent online activity, you could be flagged as “inactive,” which honestly has people worried about job security.

I’m trying to understand how this actually works in real life. We use the restroom, take lunch, attend meetings, step away to think, or work offline at times. Does that count against us? Are we really expected to show nonstop keystrokes for 8 hours straight?

Is anyone familiar with how this digital activity or logging process is tracked? Would appreciate insight from anyone who’s dealt with this or knows how it’s supposed to work.

Laid off a year ago after being there 15 years (EMC brought into Dell). I had a larger quota (20-30 million a half but I will admit I was semi over paid compared to market averages)...but I was lucky and was immediately employed by a competitor a week after posting up my looking for work banner on LinkedIN.

I wasn't replaced by Dell for a while and they finally got headcount or whatever to replace me and they did it with a guy fresh out of college. Turns out they couldn't get meetings or sell anything.

Now here is where it gets funny. Encouraged by his lesdership, the new kid has the nerve to reach out to me and ask me if I can introduce him to my old customers (bear in mind i'm his direct competitor now and he knows this). Absolutely laughable.

That is how they are running things now, I suppose.

Could this be richard Jackson's doing as Vicki will probably retire so gotta shake up the org

none of this would have happened in the first place. I’ve been here for more than ten years, and every round of cuts, reorgs, or leadership changes I’ve witnessed has been about shedding competence while retaining or promoting failure. There have been exceptions, but they are so rare they only prove the rule. When that’s how decisions are made all the way to the top, even major bloodletting is not going to produce the outcomes leadership desires.

We all knew Murrays days were numbered when Big Al came in, but I must say I'm surprised it came out of the blue on a Thursday night the week before Christmas.

Heard a rumor that more big org changes are coming. Any details? My money is on BH as next COO.

How are we hiring leaders in a regular basis in tech while we’re laying off people? And they all seem to come from the same few companies- bunch of leaders poaching their buddies from BoNY etc. what a joke.

I guess they’re cleaning house and giving buddies higher paying jobs. They aren’t going to fix anything tho.

The Indification of a once great company is officially complete with the appointment of new CEO of Indian origin. With no meaningful experience in bringing a public company to new heights, he was hired for reasons that won't help the companies long term valuation.

Man your life boats, the ship is going for its last lunge down.

Oracle has effectively traded innovation for acquisitions, functioning more as an M&A machine than a tech pioneer. By buying products like WebLogic and Java instead of building them, the company has gutted its R&D and triggered a massive brain drain. Visionaries cash out, and top-tier engineers end up buried in a hierarchy where they’re forced to babysit legacy products in maintenance mode rather than building the future.

The culture is currently defined by stagnation. We need a "meritocracy or exit" pipeline where upward movement is the standard; if a leader or employee isn't consistently contributing or growing, they shouldn't be occupying a seat. Instead, we see stagnant management protected while high-level individual contributors (IC 3–5) are hit by layoffs. This transactional, "cog-in-the-machine" mindset has to go. The left over managers just search talent needle in haystack with hackathons.

Even OCI feels like a reactive attempt to copy AWS, backed by massive data center spending that lacks a clear, long-term strategy. To turn this around, Oracle needs a total leadership overhaul. We must purge the non-technical bureaucracy and "people managers" to make room for visionaries who are ready to challenge the status quo and actually build something new.

A few clueless dolts crash the ship into an iceberg. They grab the lifeboats and you and I have to jump into the water.

Vz leaders….do better and be better. Thousands of people’s lives are affected by your decisions.

Frank is now the CEO of the IRS in addition to being the commissioner of Social Security. Can FB be Bubba?

• NIH lacks permanent leaders in 13 of 27 institutes and centers
• Agency posts 11 roles at once with initial 2-week deadline
• Scientists raise concerns over expedited recruitment
• Total workforce reduced by 1,200 amid mass layoffs
• Potential candidates reluctant to apply, former institute director says

https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/us-nih-races-fill-nearly-half-its-top-roles-after-wave-departures-2025-12-17/

Starbucks hired Laxman Narasimhan, a former McKinsey & Company senior partner, as CEO in 2023, but his tenure was marked by declining market value (around $30 billion lost) due to a perceived disconnect between strategic advising and operational execution, leading to his replacement by an "operator" from Chipotle, Brian Niccol, which immediately boosted the stock, highlighting a shift from pure strategy to hands-on management at the company.

Key Details:
The Hire: Narasimhan, with deep consulting and PepsiCo experience, was seen as bringing strategic discipline to Starbucks.

The Problem: His focus on efficiency and process, influenced by McKinsey frameworks, alienated customers and staff, leading to poor store experiences and falling sales, despite strategic logic.

The Pivot: In late 2024/early 2025, Starbucks replaced him with Brian Niccol (ex-Chipotle CEO), known for actual operational scaling.

The Result: Niccol's appointment reversed the stock decline, showing the market's preference for real-world operators over strategic advisors for hands-on retail challenges.

The Lesson: The situation became a case study on the difference between consulting/advising (strategy) and building/running (operations), with Starbucks learning that its brand needed experience, not just frameworks, according to various business commentators.

Starbucks didn’t fail in its execution.. it just forgot what it is selling.. is chevron heading down the same path?

Alan F is exiting BNY,he’s been with the firm for 18 years,when veterans leave it is always a bad signal..I sense something big is in store for 2026!

I'm not in the know the svod side of the fence. I Just happened to look on the org chart and she's gone. How long ago was this?

"We will be transparent with you and have announcements to make after the holidays": the only kind of news you would want to hold back in this context is layoffs, further leadership changes, or both.

Oil futures are pointing to lower prices. COP will be struggling financially given the downward pricing direction. How do you think senior leadership will lead us through these challenging times?

Most Ford management and employees lack ingenuity.

The leaders tries to copy other automotive companies and fails miserably. Constantly ties ways to burn cash. Flip-flops without proper market research or vision.

Employees constantly blame the leaders for failure. Few with good ideas are shot down, so now they have low morale and lack motivation.

Some great talents are lost due to RTO and low performers are still around us because they can badge in every day.

Makes you want to puke.

Stupid questions to Legg to start the meeting about what he's best at cooking (he said Steak on a grill and maybe salad). Then said one of his favorite movie scenes is from Silence of the Lambs and he quoted the "rubs the lotion on its skin". What kind of sicko thinks that's one of their favorite movie scenes?

Plan on layoffs in Legg's org as he said the main costs are "employee salaries". Not much to reduce costs short of layoffs.

Are the employees really that bad, or does leadership have some accountability?

https://www.foxbusiness.com/economy/irobot-co-founder-says-ftcs-opposition-amazon-deal-wrong-minded-following-bankruptcy-filing

The bankruptcy filing follows the termination of iRobot's proposed $1.4 billion acquisition by Amazon, which was abandoned in January 2024 amid a probe by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) – led by Lina Khan – and European regulators. The FTC's antitrust investigation was focused on Amazon's ability to favor its own products over its rivals.

iRobot co-founder and former CEO Colin Angle told FOX Business in an interview that the FTC's decision to oppose the merger struck him as "wrong-minded" and harmful in retrospect.

"I bet if you asked almost anyone prior to the blocking of the deal with iRobot: Would you rather see iRobot innovating like crazy, coming out with new and better robots for your home, or would you like to see it file for Chapter 11 in the process of being sold to a Chinese manufacturer?" he said. "The wrong thing probably happened."

Not just because jobs are being shipped overseas. It’s also because AI simply isn’t delivering. They can paper over the AI flop for only so long, and we all know who will end up paying the price for the brilliant idea of throwing massive amounts of money at the latest tech fad, which is unsurprisingly turning out not to be the miracle it was sold as. Leadership seems to know only one solution to every problem imaginable, including bad judgment in spending - more layoffs.

So my store was safe from those agent weirdos or whatever and that made me happy BUT Just found out we’re getting passed to another DM. That’s literally the fifth one in six months. Is this place actually a joke??
And of course, it’s her. She’s actually a total NPC. She acts like a robot and thinks leading by fear is a flex. It’s so so bad. She cares about nobody but herself.. I’ve  dealt with her before and it’s a nightmare.

To make All this even worse daily I hear is 'layoffs this' and more closures that.' Honestly? I hope this new whole giant district exposes these incompetent “leaders” so they can finally see what it feels like to be just a number. Thought about spamming Dan’s stupid feedback thing  but like he actually cares? Yeah right. Whatever. 2026 here we come

HC had a meeting to talk about feedback on the new policy and out of our 7 wealthy white SLT GP's FIVE were working from home, one was even taking the call from the car??? It's Tuesday, isn't Tuesday a required in office day? So for you marginalized peons with four kids working a part-time job because we don't even pay you enough, be in your seat from 8-5, we will do whatever we want.

Thoughts on our new leader in Medicare, Martin, coming from Amazon? Thoughts on our good old Aaron leaving us after 29 years’ of service?

Do we have a communications team? Do they help the senior leaders with their messaging? Sure seems like the answer is no. Employee messaging is terrible - inconsistent, inauthentic, and lacks humanity. What’s happening here?

Division meeting today just ended. T.P says more ISPs coming. No number given, just the same ole same ole "transformation" jargon. Also, 700 HBAs impacted by the new RTO policy. They did this knowing a lot of those folks will rage quit or simply not be able to do RTO, leading to termination. Why is EDJ leadership actively at war with the very people who make the company home office work? It sure as Sh1t aint the GPs pulling this wagon.

Structure w/out trust just feels like punishment.
The people you are chasing will still hide, just now from a desk.
The rest of us lose flexibility that actually helped us deliver.
Thats why this feels like optics- not strategy.

expect several months worth of small, targeted little potshots and pruning to avoid more bad PR and WARN, etc. hopefully some bigger changes will come at the top level.