You have to know Stankey’s earnings call script has already been typed, run by tens of lawyers, Investor Relations, CFO, and PR teams before being shared with him.
When he took the first run at it, does he really think he can sell this to the investment community? Does he think his employee base that loathes him as much as they do will buy in and back their servant leader who has diminished shareholder value and employee morale in such a manner that we haven’t seen in recent American business history? Does he really try the narratives of customers don’t pay bills, interest rate issues due to economic factors, durable product lines through transformation, and oh boy, the lead cable fiasco? Does he continue the angle that he’s right-sizing the workforce simply based on zip code in the spirit of fostering innovation, culture and collaboration? They’ll all see right through it.
What must be going through his mind leading up to the call on Wednesday morning knowing that he’s a lame duck? Oh I know, make Pascal deliver the message. That demonstrates leadership, delegation, and enablement. Good job.