#culture

I came to BOA a few years ago from another big bank. Everyone I work with here seems to be vapid, boring and uncreative.

Welcome to Nike Innovation, where we fearlessly reimagine everything except leadership, accountability, and how people are treated.

Here, “innovation” means arranging the same executives into exciting new organizational charts and announcing the results in a presentation titled The Future of Innovation.

The process is revolutionary:

Talented people generate the ideas.
Talented people do the work.
Management adds “strategic guidance.”
Leadership presents the outcome.
The people who created it are reorganized, deprioritized, or shown the door.

That’s the famous Nike carrot-and-stick model.

The carrot: You get to tell people you work at Nike Innovation—the magical place where the future of sport is supposedly invented.

The stick: You eventually realize the most carefully engineered product is management’s protection of management.

Failure is pushed downward.
Credit is pulled upward.
Accountability disappears somewhere in the middle.

But don’t worry: after treating the people doing the work as disposable, leadership will schedule an all-hands meeting about courage, belonging, vulnerability, and putting athletes at the center.

Because nothing says “innovation culture” like frightened employees listening to protected executives explain the importance of taking risks.

Nike Innovation doesn’t have a shortage of brilliant people or powerful ideas. It has a system that consumes both while congratulating itself for being visionary.

The employees innovate.
Management appropriates.
The PowerPoint celebrates.

And when the people responsible for the work are finally exhausted or eliminated, leadership can proudly announce another transformation.

Nike Innovation: If we rename the dysfunction often enough, eventually someone might mistake it for progress.

Are execs truly happy or miserable? Ranking must be brutal.

Is the risk higher for execs not to make it to retirement eligible (ie 55)?

Gotta hand it to NHG (CMO), given everything that went down with CG, how the heck does she still remain in place and keep showing up like nothing happened?

Seriously, respect the game. The ability to survive and just keep going is next-level. Most people would’ve bounced.

How does she do it? Genuine question.

Verizon paid employees, can we come together and do more. We can cry about an infinite number of reasons why the work is hard, yet we stay and we quit putting in any effort. Since we are stuck together at work, do we have the professionalism to help each other, or are we going to pout and refuse to put in any effort? We can avoid RIF, but a collective lack of effort only provides the company reasoning for further RIF and rebadging.

HPE: “We will treat all those transitions with the highest level of care and compassion.”
Translation:
We lead with empathy and compassion…
just kidding.
We ghost you, then act like you’re the one who did something wrong.
Nothing says “highest level of care” like a sudden calendar invite titled “Quick Sync” followed by radio silence and a severance PDF.
Anyone else getting the classic HPE special?

Joined FIS not long after Covid, things were honestly great the first year or so. Got to own things, got to work on innovative stuff. But then came the reorgs and senior leadership changes. The rest was history, everything went to sh-t for the next 3-4 years. I knew I should’ve left by year 3, but a combination of personal reasons and getting too comfortable kept me procrastinating. With all the layoffs this year I knew I couldn’t put it off anymore. thought the market would be sh-t but it’s actually not as bad as everyone make it seem. Got a couple offers within a month. I’ve been working at the new gig for about a month now, and holy sh-t has it put things into perspective. I knew FIS was disorganized but honestly it looks like a bunch of middle schoolers running a corporation looking back. And they treated their employees like human garbage, barely even count as a number, that takes a toll on your mind and body. So guys unless you’re not far from retirement, start applying TODAY, get out of there for you and your family’s sake.

Thoughts on why the employee survey is going to be near end of year. Is it because we’ll be significantly smaller than the last one? Thoughts from those that will or will not complete the survey and why. I believe the results should be available to all employees to view including ALL verbatim comments. Thoughts?

Salesforce is undergoing layoffs in a story familiar to all here: top, tenured staff targeted, no logic to changes, H1b questions, etc. Maybe this isn't as different as it feels or all executives just stupid, selfish @ssholes?

Mostly asking folks who are no longer in VMW/AVGO anymore.

We all complain how bad the culture has become - i can vouch, its pi-s bad and getting worse but nobody wants to leave because we all only talk s**t but love $$ too much and lack backbone/guts to do anytime so would rather wait out to get the package and waiting for the 15th every 3 months for the cha-ching.

I for a change, have been contemplating giving the middle finger and leave but want to get a reality check from honest folks. Should I su-k it up and stay 'cuz its too terrible outside or its not as bad as its feared ? I am no dummy but not Einstein either but always been top performer since I am good at reading the room and learning on the fly.

Yep, another 12%. Media companies across the US continue to circle the drain.

https://deadline.com/2026/08/ew-scripps-layoffs-ai-local-tv-1237028507/

p.s. Feel free to add that short, toxic, fat, combative liability of a new CISO to the list. Someone who actually fits in the culture would make things better. His enemies list grows week by week.

Getting tired of the Teflon BS coming from MD and his staff on social media. Look over here at my spoiled son who amazingly got a billion dollars of funding to put batteries(?) in people’s back yards. D-mb as f*ck idea. But daddy promotes it like crazy. Every nation needs sovereign AI, build more data centers, meanwhile in the real world his company is falling apart. He’s laying off 10’s of thousands of people. His presidents are mo--ns and his SVPs are even worse. They’re just “yes men” who would sell their own kids for a buck. Greedy ba----ds. It’s got nothing to do with the fact that they have money, it’s pathetic and sad that their entire life IS about money. Pathetic human beings and ba----ds who do nothing but su-k America dry and don’t give anything back. They’re the problem and they need to get out.

There is no sense of urgency at PEP, they seem content with their negative return on the stock, they seem content trying to deceive everyone by celebrating failure as a raging success.

https://seekingalpha.com/article/4931617-pepsi-where-is-the-sense-of-urgency

Bryan has the energy of a used car salesman. He seems very untrustworthy and incompetent. They just talk a lot without saying anything substantive. What is happening with the company? What is HISs future? Why do they even do quarterly calls to tell us we are doing well and then pull some bs like this. Bryan is taking home a gigantic paycheck compared to the size of our company. The greed of shareholders is really insane. Every company lays off thousands of employees like it’s nothing just because the profits were 1 or 2 percentage lower.

Sales has been given some great products & tools since 2001. Them & Capital Management has largely been insulated from the changes. Yet, year after year, they dramatically underperform. Time to get close & get a microscope & do a colonoscopy w/o the sedation.

The function I work in hasn’t communicated anything about the reorg. Leaders did one initial communication that gave no information, and they said more will be communicated when information is available. It’s now August and still NOTHING. So now we’re all stressed and anxious, which isn't good for focus, productivity or safety. And we’re wondering: Do our leaders even know what their fate is let alone what ours is? Or does leadership even realize the affect that their lack of communication is causing? This lack of communication feels so disrespectful and manipulative. Just giving us a timeline would make people feel better.

BNY has perfected a new corporate art form: mid level managers who treat LinkedIn like an audition stage and themselves like a microphone.

Every leadership post, every transformation slogan, every intern’s “growth moment” gets amplified instantly — not because it means anything, but because it might be noticed by someone above them.

It’s all about personal branding and no backbone.

On this forum, employees describe a culture where honesty is a liability and silence is survival. Yet on LinkedIn, these same managers gush about leadership, culture, and “the journey,” as if repeating the script might magically make it true.

PLEASE STOP! These are not emerging leaders. They offer no insight, no action, no original thought — just a chorus of upward aimed applause designed to look like emerging leadership.

Come on. You know exactly who I’m talking about – the typical brown nosers and chapped lips sympathizers always rushing to amplify every leadership quote, transformation slogan, or intern level “growth moment.” Call it “personal branding by echo chamber.”

The reality is that the louder the amplifiers cheer online, the quieter they are when it matters — especially in rooms where truth would actually help people. It’s not leadership. It’s survival theater.

Everywhere you look there’s a constant stream of BNY human amplifiers performing relentless positivity, endorsing perspectives they never practice and celebrating changes they privately fear.

I wonder why this has become the fabric of our current culture. Perhaps because at BNY, the safest leadership move isn’t speaking up. It’s saying nothing original and applauding everything.

Echoing power is the only growth strategy that actually works. And as far as the backbone part — Authenticity isn’t rewarded. Agreement is.

Largely managing employees out! Strict tracking, micromanaging then what…? Why can’t you actually appreciate your employees and make them happy? What do you lose if you drive productivity through respect and motivation rather than toxicity and back stabbing?

There are 14 people at TIAA on the culture team...10 of which are Sr Directors or VP. I had no idea we had such an emphasis on building positive culture here.

The title says it all

I’m a former TDP. I’m exactly the kind of employee this company should be doing everything it can to keep.

I like the work. I like my team. I like my role. If it weren’t for RTO, I’d probably be here for a long time.

Instead, everyday I spend more and more time wondering if it’s time to leave. Not because of the work, but because of what the pisspoor leadership has turned this place into.

The morale is the worst I’ve ever seen. It feels like an “us vs. them” culture now. People aren’t motivated to go above and beyond anymore. They’re burned out, frustrated, and just trying to get through the day. Everyone is doing the bare minimum, checking the box, and says “who cares?” when a problem or a challenge arises. Nobody here feels valued anymore.

I’m burned out from a long commute that adds no value. I now work fewer hours than I used to because the time I spent getting ahead is now spent sitting in traffic. I’m less productive, less motivated, and honestly just exhausted. I’m worried if I stay here much longer it will destroy my work ethic.

We tell customers they can connect from anywhere, yet internally we act like our own technology isn’t good enough for us to use ourselves. How does that make any sense to anyone?

What frustrates me most is that I want to stay. I enjoy the work. I have a great team. I don’t want to start over somewhere else even though I know I could. But every day this RTO policy makes that decision to leave a little easier.

If leadership is wondering why the younger employees aren’t staying, maybe stop asking why they’re leaving and start asking why you’re giving them reasons to. The job isn’t pushing us away. Leadership’s decisions, RTO policy, and resulting toxic culture and rock bottom morale are.

Departure posts on LinkedIn are again on rise? Is it because of PIPs, people retiring or leaving in droves? Whats going on? All the departees seem to be saying how good of an experience they have had but yet leaving?

This site addresses many groups but overlooks the one that has always been, and remains, in charge, the Anglo Alliance. They dictate both the culture and its declining quality, contributing nothing of substance while speaking white.

Their individualistic cuddle culture makes them hyper-sensitive to their own emotions, yet they still preach nationalistic sermons of teamwork. They target DEI, H1Bs, and non-Anglos for their own failures, excused by therapists who tell them it is not their fault.

Where is the Anglo self-accountability that their own self-help books supposedly encourages.

Capone pronounced like the famous chicago gangster... this is more appropriate that pronouncing as cap one. Corrupt, corrupt, corrupt. Sad, sad, sad. I have seen so many new posts about the new RIFs this week, and just as many, if not more celebration postings on LinkedIn about new job acceptances, promotions, and brand new job postings. This company is The Worst.

Has anyone checked out the reviews and complaints on the BBB website regarding Nielsen? It’s actually quite entertaining but at the same time I’m ashamed for what this company has become.

I'll start:

I'll paraphrase because I can't remember the exact sentence but it was a director that said something along the lines that he will "get more involved" again after being a total no show for the least 5 years and later when the culling started fu---d over hundreds of people.

Hindsight is 20/20 but I really wish I'd asked him on that call what the fu-k he actually ment.

Why is it any time I talk to any chevron employee they hate their job? Why is it every time I talk to a Chevron subcontractor they hate working for Chevron? Seems like Chevron doesn’t give a fu-k about any local community. Let alone their own employees.

Hello everyone - came in to get some laughs and get caught up on the BS I left behind. Life is better after 17+ years with CVX and recently hitting a one year anniversary with the new company and new leadership/team. Sorry to gloat but greener grass is attainable!! Hope you all can get out of the misery, backstabbing and nightmare and find something more fulfilling that does not drain the life out of you everyday. Wishing the best to all my former CVX family I left behind...................xoxoxo

The guy was asked how culture gives an advantage and the dude went off on his dad passing ( I mean sorry for your loss ) but then he told the whole world he was a bad person? Like what is going on here. They have no answers. So just give long word salads so people lose focus on what the question was.

Use this post to discuss today’s all-employee meeting and the rest of Culture Week

That is all.

I miss the old days. I miss the Call Centers. I miss having my own server farm.

Now, I’m a member of the Borg.

Centene started with layoffs in 2021 after acquiring WellCare, due to promising most of WellCare employees to keep there jobs. When Centene decided to rebrand their Medicare product (AllWell) to WellCare a decline started. After acquiring WellCare, members talked to people all over the USA, not just in the state they lived, this also caused a decline on membership. Cut the fat at the top, let the company go back to the way it was ( talk to people in your state that know your state and resources). Centene was a great company to work for until 2021, acquiring WellCare.
These are my thoughts and observations!

I remember when 3M was the kind of place people stayed for decades. Now it's a revolving door where people come, get some experience, and leave for somewhere that actually values them. Insiders get passed over, outsiders get promotions, and the culture keeps eroding. And then we ask ourselves why we're in decline? The answer is obvious.

It used to be pay, culture, prestige. All of that is gone. Is there anything good left?

lol. What culture?

AT&T used to compete for the best talent in the country. Today, it feels like we’re competing for the best talent willing to relocate to a handful of hub cities and accept five-day RTO.

The people walking out the door aren’t just headcount. They’re decades of institutional knowledge, technical expertise, customer relationships, and experience that can’t be replaced by posting another job opening.

“Leadership” seems to think talent is interchangeable. But we know it isn’t.

You can backfill a position in a few months. It can take years for someone to become truly effective in many of these roles, and by then they may already be looking for their next opportunity.

A real market-based culture works both ways. If you expect employees to compete in the market every day, then the company has to compete for employees too. That means offering a compelling reason to stay, whether that’s compensation, flexibility, culture, career growth, or meaningful work.

Right now, it feels like the strategy is to shrink the talent pool through geography, push experienced people out, and hope everything works out.

Hope isn’t a strategy and neither is assuming talent is infinitely replaceable.

Worked here some time ago, the management was terrible. Their so called 1, 2, and 3rd level leaders were extremely terrible human beings. They treated people poorly and there was no recourse for the staff. The higher level management just believed their lies, no accountability, it was a really terrible gruling experience.

Ya don't say!!! For your reading pleasure. Wonder if Stinkey has read this.

https://thehill.com/opinion/technology/5992056-office-attendance-backlash/

I wasted three years in Nike's fear-based culture that drained everything from me. My new job is far from ideal, but it's still ten times better than Nike. The biggest mistake of my career was joining that place.

When I first applied two years ago, I checked this page and told myself it was just unhappy people venting. Now I've been here long enough to know they were right. The culture, the management, the chaos, it's all here in black and white. I should have listened. Mea culpa.