#leadership

It's truly never been worse here.
There's so much more to life than this place. If the clowns at the top don't change the 'market based culture' (which is just a phrase used to change the subject away from discussing the worst employee culture around) quickly, then the point of no-return is upon us.

The laid off like the BEST people ever earlier this year. Then I see posts lately of bottom of the barrel leaders accepting leadership roles at Cigna this summer. Like why would they hire them and layoff others beats me.

_https://www.linkedin.com/posts/alisonmurphy541_sarah-london-hadnt-driven-her-kids-to-school-activity-7478557950656225280-Sh3E?_

You really can’t make this stuff up. Who approved the article? They should be the first one ejected from this clown car.

While CenTeamers are trying to figure out if buyouts, layoffs, reorgs, and product exits are coming for them next, LinkedIn gets a heartwarming leadership lesson built around Sarah London’s stress.

To be fair, this doesn’t look like Centene PR. It looks like an executive coach using Sarah London’s story as a leadership-content hook/executive pitch for women about “non-negotiables club.” Which somehow makes it even weirder.

In the story, Sarah was stressed out, Sarah got a coach, a reset, and a nice little inspiration arc. “CenTeamers” got uncertainty, canned talking points, and their own version of non-negotiable: take the exit or wait for the system to decide for them. And it’s non-negotiable…

Someone else mentioned this in a previous thread. The internal podcast is called “London Calling.”

Perfect.

The Clash wrote a warning song about systems breaking down. The song was about disorder, pressure, uncertainty, and the sense that the people in charge were not really in control. Centene turned it into her personal executive branding. Nailed it!

Sounds like a great follow up LinkedIn post to spike the football on how to be ruthlessly non-negotiable. “Lean in” on the non-negotiable nature of executive leadership in the months to come. Spin it as growth or sumthin’. It’s an opportunity!

The chorus:

The ice age is comin', the sun's zoomin' in
Meltdown expected, the wheat is growin' thin
Engines stop runnin', but I have no fear
'Cause London is drownin' and I live by the river

Maybe the next episode can offer breathing exercises for “CenTeamers” hearing “we need to shift,” explaining layoffs to their families, and wondering if their login still works next month.

Inhale: “we value our people.”

Exhale: “your role has been impacted.”

Inspirational stuff. Bring the puffer jacket. The Clash warned about the ice age coming, and somehow she’s turned it into a leadership moment.

Hybrid work should be evaluated on outcomes and deliverables, not solely on days in office or commute distance. If managers are meeting their commitments and supporting their teams effectively, a 2-day in-office cadence can be reasonable under current policy. Where concerns exist, they’re best addressed through documented feedback via HR or leadership channels, rather than informal assumptions. Let’s keep the focus on accountability and results for everyone, at every level.

Verizon's decision to move the majority of NS IT work to TCS and Infosys is a high-risk mistake that appears to ignore the hard lessons from previous transitions. The last major Infosys-led engagement created significant disruption, operational challenges, and loss of momentum, yet leadership is choosing to repeat the same strategy without addressing the root causes of those failures.
This decision reflects a growing disconnect between executive leadership and the realities experienced by delivery teams, system owners, and business stakeholders. Instead of learning from past outcomes, leadership is reverting to a familiar outsourcing playbook and hoping for a different result.
The consequences could be severe—loss of critical domain knowledge, deterioration in service quality, slower execution, and increased operational risk across NS systems. What is most concerning is that these risks are well known and have been experienced before. Ignoring those lessons today will likely create far greater costs and disruption tomorrow.

We did an internal poll of several hundred plus employees...

Majority of 88% say they dislike the direction of the company and the CEO is not fit for the job.

Who would have thought?

Am hearing through the grapevine that the board is seriously considering making Hans ceo again after the Dan disaster show. Anybody else hearing this?

The large disconnect between Truist Messaging and the way it treats its employees and clients has to be the greatest hypocrisy of any marketing campaign. Employees are being set up, thrown out, and reputations smeared. Clients are getting over engineered loans and being pushed out aggressively for no reason. This doesn’t seem to fit anything w purpose? Certainly isn’t making better lives and communities. Definitely not unwavering with care!? How can you throw some many lies out there and think the public won’t figure it out? Great job Bill. You get an F for CEO. Failing grade.

I can’t believe the lolcow that is this executive leadership team.

The email on change fatigue is the biggest joke in this company’s history. I think this is all intentional to force people out

Mr. Walton was the CRO for Fiserv pre-merger. Then one day he just disappeared. Does anyone know what happened to him?

fire vps and directors of all levels. get serious about earning your bonus Dan!

I've noticed that layoffs only get announced if the affected group leaks it. Otherwise they just pretend it didn't happen. It's absurd.

Is there anybody in senior leadership who could actually turn things around if they were given free rein?

I've never seen morale drop this low. It almost seems like leadership is doing this on purpose and I can't understand why.

I'm wondering if there are any decent managers still around. Mine barely rates a 2 out of 10. What about yours?

I can't stop watching Verizon spiral downward. All the talent and potential being wasted, people going through so much, and the leadership just doesn't care. It's like watching a train wreck in slow motion.

I noticed some changes in the Customer Service area. I think that the main guy that came from Cigna, a VP in Customer Service, is no longer with HCSC. Is this a one off thing? Or is the trend now to replace leadership coming from Cigna with HCSC leadership?

In CLT technology and told the employee survey was bad this year. Are they really surprised? I bet BE’s explanation will be that the 12,000 people in her org are wrong and it’s not her. They just don’t get her “leadership”. Anyone else getting any information?

Why is Law experiencing another round of layoffs in 2026 after a previous round in 2025? Why do our leaders continue to demoralize?

I have been working in a mildly successful IBM product for the last 12 years. Some years ago my boss at the time warned me about something I am now experiencing first hand: Well connected higher ups work on the flashy IBM fad that almost always fail (block chain, cp4d, Watson health, Watsonx….) then a layoff happens, the base workers and the first line take most of the blow, and these professional bosses are parachuted into a more established product. It’s been 8 months since a big layoff impacted my team, the layoff came with new bosses, all of them from failed products. They know nothing about my product (and are not willing to learn), but keep making decisions that they are not (remotely) capable of understanding their consequences , they all came with big attitude and egos; always ready to hoard the travel opportunities and post in LinkedIn at every turn. They will surely sink the product and jump to the next one. Have you seen this as well?

There have been several in my department that were told indirectly that the need to take the VSP. People know way more than they were letting on.

Nothing would surprise me anymore. I wouldn't put it past this leadership.

For those of you left behind, narcissist Leahy is going to hang on (at least) until the end of the Games of the XXXIV Olympiad. Good luck keeping the lights on while ducking the ever lowering deck of the CDW tractor!

Remember how the company lifecycle works:

1. Founder/Engineer – Builds a great product (Krasny)
2. Salesperson – Figures out how to sell it and grows revenue.
3. Professional Manager (MBA) – Scales the organization and optimizes operations (Edwardson)
4. Accountant/CFO – Focuses on efficiency, margins, and cost control (Richards)
5. Lawyer – Tries to manage the lawsuits, regulations, and decline (Leahy) <== You are here

for example, the head of Microsoft Security

Yes, Richard Fairbank, the founder, chairman, and CEO of Capital One Financial Corporation, is a billionaire It’s like do your job they will eventually walk you out

https://courtindex.sdcourt.ca.gov/CISPublic/casedetail?casenum=26CU024888C&casesite=SD&applcode=C

https://www.makaremlaw.com/blog/2026/06/illumina-press-release/

We were told a completely different story about a leadership exit in Finance. Total lack of transparency. Shameful

Is this going to be Nike's independence day? Check out the unforced error discussion here.
Come on marketing and merchandising leaders... You can do better!
Will we ever learn and improve? No one at the top echelons ever pays for their mistakes, do they? Instead the rank and file suffers.

https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/stocks/articles/nike-self-inflicted-wounds-risking-070000329.html

How come the stock price is the same since dan joined? doesn't seem wall street believes verizon is an AI company....does this mean Hans will be back?

Williams-Sonoma is now a full fledged quiet firing culture. Leadership is knowingly participating in deliberate bullying and sabotage practices to either get you to quit voluntarily, or “justify” firing you while they smile with absolute glee over their plans to replace us all with AI.

Who'd you have as CEO and expect some improvement?

I keep asking myself when things started going wrong. I've been here long enough to remember a time when this company actually valued its best employees, when merit actually meant something, and when the people who worked hardest and produced the most were the ones who got rewarded. That feels like a different lifetime now. These days it's all about who can talk their way into favor and who knows the right people. That's it. That's all that matters. The ones who actually do the work are either ignored or shown the door.

You heard it here first! Grouping the ROW together simply doesn't work!

New Geo Structure;

North America / Latin America - VP, TP - HQ: Beaverton and Mexico City
Europe / Middle East / Africa - VP, CG - HQ: Hilversum
Greater China / Asia Pacific - VP, CS - HQ: Shanghai and Seoul

Simplified to 3 Geos and taking advantage of geographic proximity.

Does this remind you of someone? 😉

https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/bosses-obsessed-with-ai

When Chris Leahy became CEO it was all downhill after that. Krasny was the best leader ever at CDW.

Buckle up. Due to lack of meeting business needs VP shake up w large team shake ups & possible layoffs are on the table. Business behind all of it

Wherever are fearless/feckless leader is spending the 4th, just know that you have made thousands of people and their families miserable this year. And yes, you definitely give off Swiftie vibes.

https://pinnbc.com/the-scaling-leaders-brief/f/166-billion-mistake-why-boards-wait-until-its-too-late