Thread regarding Nike Inc. layoffs

Business Analyst, 3 years here, I like it but it's hard

Donahoe made a mess at eBay and is making a world-class mess at Nike. The guy has been failing upwards for years and collecting enormous pay checks along the way. The key KPI of a CEO is the stock price and by that measure he’s been a consistent failure. I think the board would probably like to get rid of him but they are boxed in. None of the ELT are ready for prime time, and they won’t go external again. The only option would be for Parker to come back on an interim basis. Unclear why MP would want to come out of retirement to clean up after JD sh-t the bed. So JD gets another go to try and fix his disaster.

I’m a year away from my sabbatical. Used to think I’d use it to pickup a new sport. Now I’m planning to use it to hit the job boards hard.

ELT doesn’t realize our boiling point isn’t a sliding linear scale. I’ve put up with a lot because leaving will take a lot of time and effort.

Now that I’ve snapped there is no turning this ship around, even if they’re going to pay me 200Gs while I make my exit on my terms.

By the time they see a problem fixing it won’t be as simple as undoing their previous decisions.

Didn't JD call us "family" at his all-hands?
That's when I knew.

25 yr vet here. This is my 5th official rodeo with a few other hush hush smaller rodeos. This one is different because of JD and the company's approach. In the past they were necessary because of bloat and we created great strategies to refocus and aligned the org to them resulting in some casualties but you knew that letting people go pained MP and PK. The last two and especially this one are cost cutting exercises with no clear strategy and a heartless CEO that has been quoted in the past of not recalling how many people he's let go. I have seen the Next % Strategy. Its basically the last two strategies with a few adjustments plus lets double down on innovation. There is no good way to let people go but this one is the worst with complete disregard for people and an unclear path forward. Agree with other posters on shift from growth to cost management company. I remember a few years back we had McKinsey (I know another probably million dollar engagement for great PowerPoints) come in and they showed leadership a deck of previously great behemoth companies that made mistakes and either disappeared or became irrelevant. Not saying we are there yet but we are definitely doing all the things they said not to. Like cutting your way to health.

I have been at Nike a long time and it's another cycle.

Closing in on a decade and while I haven't exactly seen "the culture" go away like longer timers like to say, I have seen most of our people normally engaged and happy to work become nearly to completely apathetic. The ELT are clueless to what they drove out but like someone else wrote on here, they're getting exactly what they've unwittingly been begging for. Hopefully a checked out 9-5 workforce was really the goal since there's no turning back with how much trust and drive have been eroded over JDs command.

Sad to see but a great time to move on by force or choice in my book. The desperate, unplanned micro savings being sought everywhere in addition to layoffs highlight absence of creativity on how the biz is being run and lack of long range vision. Things will get worse before they get worse.

Been here three years and getting ready to Nope right out of here severance or not. Sr. Dir/VP at Nike is about like being a middle manager at any other corporation in terms of actual responsibility and control. Widespread systemic incompetence. Advancement here is a matter of chance, not a matter of merit.

2017 was an interesting one. If leader was the winner, pretty much everyone was promoted. If you were on the losing end of the leadership game, pretty much your entire organization was cut. I barely survived that one.

2020 was if you performed or not, and if the vp likes your organization. I survived.

We’ll see what 2024 holds.

When the ceo doesn’t live in town that’s a bad sign. It means they are not vested at all in the community and don’t give a crao about the employees. The fact that the guy commutes to Cali in a private jet speaks volumes about his attitude and green credentials. Reduce your footprint! Haha. This is the worst ceo in my ten years here.

Why are you surprised by JD? He’s an insincere, awkward, silver spoon career CEO who hopscotches his way through corporations… he’s shown his true colors from the start in 2000.

What’s any different about him now than 10, 20, 30 years ago? Look at his career path.

Nike is now a corporation operating for Wall St: accept that please! It’s only gonna get worse and disappointment will fester within you.

Why this layoff at this 10%ish magnitude?
2 reasons: 1) appease Wall Street and the Nike board of directors, he’s lean. 2) satisfy the incredulous D&I goals he set in 2000 and needs to satisfy by 2025.

Please consider balancing your work life and stepping outside the berm for peace.

I am nervous this time. Have not been nervous about being laid off in years.

2017 and 2020 were plenty stressful. Agreed that this feels so much worse.

Been here for over ten years. This is the worst vibe by far. This leadership could give a sh-t about us. They only care about looting the place these charlatans. They have no strategy for growth or how to run a company and Wall Street knows it.

@tqq 2020 was planned well before Covid, probably even before JD was publicly announced as CEO. Nike is a huge corporation, these things don't happen overnight.

Not gonna lie, 2020 layoff into the abyss of Covid was a pretty brutal move for some folks.

Been at Nike about a decade, 2017 and even 2020 were cake compared to this. Love how he told us at Xmas time that it would be handled "with dignity" ... this is anything but. Fu-k this guy. Bring back MP, ES, or even anyone with some empathy.