Corporate model wasn't always broken

The Elite vs Worker model is broken, as evidenced by RTO flashpoint, etc. Corporste leadership should never be about power and is doomed if it is.

When I started my career, CEOs were not disconnected from workers and didn't make obscene amounts of $$$. They took significant pay cuts when times were lean. Spoke plain truths about hard times, painful outlooks, and the real reasons for layoffs. They had compassion for employees. And workers respected CEOs for all of those reasons.

Many of today's workers never experienced that type of leadership and don't understand the vantage point of people from my generation. We expect more, because we deserve more. We give more when we get more from our leadership. We know better leadership can exist, because we've had it in the past.

Sadly, CEOs compensation and elitism is currently off the charts. We need to return to a better model. Corporate greed and resulting changes that began decades ago clearly only benefit the few. (Stock market / shareholder / 401K breakdown saved for another day.)

So, to those workers who think ivory tower, out of touch leadership is acceptable, and think all workers should shut up and do as they're told and stop whining, I feel sorry for you. I'm sorry that you've never known any different. I'm sorry that the corporate model changed before you entered the workforce, and that it let you down. I'm sorry that it led you to believe you deserve less.

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10 replies (most recent on top)

Yeah, to the folks who say lets go back the to 1950's, I'm all in, as long as you mean...

Housing prices drop by 75%
CEO pay drops by 300%
My pay increases bases on cost of living and productivity, so minimum wage would be 24 dollars
The marginal tax rate on the wealthy goes back to 95%...

Maybe have everything closed on Sundays again, too. It was great being a kid back then because we all did stuff, and malls are closing anyway...

We are in a hot Indian mess.

Remember when Lee Iacocca took the CEO job at failing Chrysler for an annual salary of $1?

Of course there were stock options but they were based on company performance unlike Chucky Cheesey's $25 Million with a 20% salary based on what, FAILURE!

Go watch Barbarians at the Gate, streaming on Netfix and Amazon.

With all of the corporate jets and excesses, in the end CEO F. Ross Johnson admits he would have done the job for free.

@ ipa+1lfg1waH, “5 days a week two years ago”?? Where do you come up with that sweeping generalization? I came back to the bank seven years ago and my whole group was remote on Fridays. Worked pretty nicely as a dry run for full remote during lockdown. We were already geographically dispersed, only becoming more so by the time RTO arrived, proving no legit business justification for it.

@1ybk
Lazy and immature response. People like you are the reason we won't collectively demand better and progress. Execs love infighting among generations bc it misplaces blame on coworkers instead of placing it on leadership (where it belongs). Enjoy your miserable life.

@ipa

The world is always evolving. Employer/employee engagement evolved during pandemic (necessity is the mother of invention). Many learned a new way of working (others already had been WFH). Just like the industrial, automotive, and digital revolutions, the workplace model is ripe for reinvention (proven by successful remote work during pandemic). Corporations may fight it tooth and nail, but it WILL ultimately change. That's the way things work. Being slow to adapt means you'll eventually be steamrolled in the end.

No, we don't have to be grateful for 3 days in the office, when NO DAYS in the office makes sense for many roles. My entire team successfully worked remotely for over 15 YEARS before pandemic. The RTO decision by execs is arbitrary and short-sighted.

Convert CRE (commercial real estate) to housing and rethink cities and their purpose. STOP BEING DINOSAURS, bc we all know they become extinct. Adapt, adapt, adapt!

I don't thi k they're out of touch to ask folks to come in 3 days a week when they were 5 days a week two years ago. However, changing the rules on those that had a remote agreement is a little salty.

Another problem I disagree with though is the inconsistency for those that did obtain remote agreement. That was never clear and a little disproportionate.

@ujx
Not sure if this immature reaction to OP's valid post or you're being honest. Either way, and as someone who's never experienced great leadership, I agree it's out there and we can demand it.

When I started I walked uphill to work in the winter.

Thread regarding Wells Fargo & Co. layoffs

Corporate model wasn't always broken

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