For the person posting about Walmart keeping people at the Sr. Director/VP level people around forever (great post, btw), and not weeding out poor performers, why is that? Why does the company keep these people? We used to joke that they must keep their jobs because they have pictures or dirt on someone.
It's fine that people have been with Walmart forever, but what isn't fine is that some of them are poor performers with zero leadership skills, whose failings are compounded by never having kept up with industry relevant technology. I am not talking about ISD, rather, other areas of the company where AI and other technologies should be utilized and aren't. Honestly, when talking with some of these Sr. Directors you can tell they are stuck in the early 1990s when they began their career with Walmart out of high school. They talk about the way they've always done it, or talk about recently adopted concepts as if they are innovative, when in actuality they've been in place since the early 80s. Where would eCommerce be today if the original players were still running the show, those that weren't willing to act on online earlier, and adopt the technology needed. Rather, talking about it like it's just a passing fad??? That is the equivalent which is going on in other areas, people running things who are the antithesis of innovators.
The scary part is there is an idea that bringing in vendors or outsourced partners will solve things. It won't change unless the vendor partner, or a new leader is put in charge. Vendors are too afraid to speak up and tell these entrenched leaders that the way they do things is so antiquated it's beyond ridiculous, and not even worth talking about. Frankly, some leadership lack the brain power, education and background to keep up with the conversation. So instead, vendors have to play along with the foolishness and nothing gets done. It's like the story of the Emperor's New Clothes.
The associates who come in from the outside and are put under these entrenched Sr. Directors, they can't change anything, they don't stand a chance. Speaking up only gets them in trouble. Back to the original question, why do the longtimers get to stay?
This is an excellent post by @OOitQkl-2rbi. I hope he/she does not mind that I bumped it into a thread, but more people should read this.