I really want to think that people who rise in the company are good but I think the culture doesn’t work that way. I keep hearing stories of what people who rise do and it makes me wonder if there are any good and normal people above a couple of layers of management.
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I remember now that this company was always managed very poorly even before COVID. I was in a team where they would send people first class from Houston to Budapest for a power query training (lol) and do a GBC worldwide tour that was extremely unnecessary. Multiply that by the hundreds of thousands of times it happened and there you go. Of course this is just a silly example but just think about all of the other bu-----t that went on for years and years. Hope they find the cash they are desperate for though <:o
Well said my friend. Well said. Was talking to a really good engineer last week that was looking for a job. He explained. There’s no way in heck I’d go to work for Exxon. Too many existing engineers told him stay away due to the same points you made so the reputation is definitely ruined. Future doesn’t look bright for xom at all.
The chosen sponsored future execs are told that they are on exec ladder.
Many become extremely arrogant.
Having the fear of removal from the exec ladder could cancel out some of that arrogance.
Maybe initially put twice as many people on the exec ladder and PIP half of them on their way up. This should motivate them to behave.
They are also told they are the ‘golden children’ from only several years in. If that doesn’t build a complex and arrogance, I don’t know what does?
The best managers, in my experience, spent a good 5-10 years with the middle of the pack….for all the reasons discussed here. But in doing so, they tend to age themselves out of hipo potential.
It seems that the chosen future execs are picked so early that their character and ability are not yet proven.
After placed on the exec ladder so early, it is very rare that EM management admits to making a mistake and removes the arrogant or incapable from the exec ladder.
This results in many complete mo--ns achieving executive level and doing direct damage by bad decisions and indirect damage by inspiring good productive employees to leave EM.
There needs to be a systematic decision points along the exec ladder in which id--ts can be removed. These decision points should require input from coworkers and direct reports because many on exec ladder look good to management but are obvious sh/()heads to everyone around them.