#management

IBM missed every major tech revolution from PCs to AI, shrinking to a $200 billion market cap while private OpenAI is valued at $900 billion.

IBM, which has been poorly run for decades, is on the ropes. The company has had plenty of practice managing decline. When it warned about its earnings a week ago, the stock dropped over 20%. It is down 30% for the year, while the S&P is up 9%. The picture is even bleaker from another vantage point: in early June, the stock changed hands at $329, but it trades at very slightly better than $200 now.

https://247wallst.com/investing/2026/07/23/ibm-is-the-worlds-worst-big-tech-company/

Every day it's the same slop. "We have to use AI in everything we do". Write code? Get AI to do it! Review the code? AI! Write an email or post a message in Teams? Better use AI for it (the ems and the emoji use always give it away; "it's not just x - it's y")! Every post, every message, AI slop images, AI slop text, literally inescapable. I feel like the cult mentality around it is just eating away at people's brains, it's a twilight zone episode. I get we have to copy what every software company does, but isn't there someone near the top seeing the massive bubble about to burst, the cost of token consumption, and the general brain drain that comes from offloading every single task to an agent or a chat bot?

The fact that she can get on an all-company townhall and just blatantly lie is wild. My faith in this company has fallen so far that I no longer even trust USB to manage my money. Have been transferring my and my parents accounts to other institutions. This townhall just strongly confirmed that decision.

You can tell how disconnected management is from the company and how they never actually talk to people. They get on a meeting and just spew like everything is great. Soon as you address issues they turn a blind eye because it requires them to do something besides say its great. Like actual issues the company has with getting customers service or improving efficiency. Nope, they make it sound like you are the problem when all you are doing is asking how can we fix this.

After over a year of not having them, forecast calls have resumed. Needless to say- the ET has been “surprised” at the losses being forecasted- to the point of not believing the managers forecasts, and they still do not have access to a lot of reporting that would have alerted them to the 10s of millions being lost. This reorg is a massive miss. I don't see in what world an IPO will happen. Who would invest in this dumpster fire.

This is right out of Ginni's tired playbook " One quarter does not define a company. Progress is never perfect or linear. But the future is ours to win"

Arvind, read your own headline back. “Company culture was too slow to change.” Not “I set a strategy that leaned on debt-funded acquisitions for five years.” Not “I ki-led a working deployment focus six months ago and had to rebuild it under pressure.” Not “I chased a stock price number instead of asking whether the growth underneath it was real.” Culture. As if the culture is some ambient weather system that happens to a company, instead of the direct, measurable output of what leadership rewards, funds, and tolerates.
Here’s what “culture” actually means when a CEO says it out loud: it means employees. It means the people three, four, five levels below you, absorbing blame for decisions they didn’t make and couldn’t have stopped. You don’t get to spend years building a strategy on acquisitions and mainframe timing, watch the props come due at the same time, and then, when the market notices, hand the bill to “culture.” Culture doesn’t sign off on M&A. Culture doesn’t set the incentive plan. Culture doesn’t decide which function gets ki-led in January and rebuilt in July. You do.
And the board’s own language makes this worse, not better: confident in the strategy, but will “hold leadership accountable for execution.” Read that twice. The strategy stays untouchable. Execution is the only thing on the table, and execution is exactly the layer where the people with the least power to change the strategy live. That’s not accountability. That’s a firewall, built to make sure the decisions at the top never have to answer for the results at the top.
So here’s the honest question, asked directly, not through a euphemism about culture: why is it always easier to say “we faltered” as a company than to say “I got this wrong” as the person who ran it? Why is the sentence “culture was too slow” acceptable in a headline, while the sentence “I ki-led a function I should have left alone” never makes it into one? If you were confident enough to reshuffle the entire org on a six-month clock, be confident enough to put your own name on the outcome instead of a word that conveniently has no face and no bonus attached to it.
Own it, you said. So own it. Not the culture. You

Anyone know what that seems to imply? Europe cannot account for 45%??

Assigned to go to Bothell through RTO email. Requested Atlanta and management and HR approved it. However HR isn't willing to send an email future location will be Atlanta. Did anyone face this?

link ---> https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/economy/ibm-s-ceo-sends-a-warning-as-its-shares-take-their-worst-hit-in-decades/ss-AA28tjw7?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=6a61faf0de104c25954b7727766c091c&cvpid=9f9665ade94b4e1994ac75d6ecfc101c&ei=14#image=10

There's been barely any communication to employees about recent events (like Hamid leaving), or the gorilla in the room, potential downsizing and a sale.

There also seems to be no taste for process improvement or innovation right now. They seem to be holding the status quo and operating on an "it is what it is" mentality.

Just seem busy whenever a manager calls. Otherwise put your feet up and watch YouTube and relax. The work isn’t that hard here. It’s still good, just don’t be visible and they’ll forget about you

Looking at how things have been run, it's no shock we're in this position. The whole operation is stuck in the past.

how to make them sign me up for the layoffs

It's been a few weeks, but I've finally calmed down. When I first heard the news my body felt weak, I couldn't sleep because this visionary was gone.

The company is so top-heavy that management layers seem to outnumber the people doing actual engineering. Many of the best engineers—the ones who lived and breathed problem-solving—have long since left. What remains is an army of title-holders more interested in PowerPoint presentations, meetings, and career advancement than engineering.

The result is predictable: a growing shortage of genuine technical expertise and an organization that often struggles with problems that competent engineers should be able to solve routinely. Too many of today's so-called engineers couldn't design a simple cardboard box without forming a committee, scheduling a dozen meetings, and asking management for approval.

@j3+1kxyr77bx said it perfectly.

Somehow, over last 10 years, especially since 2019 things have gone to sh-t. Now, you may say it's her and I'd agree but I think we have major problem stemming from the weak c-level lineup (and one layer below).

Is there any company in the world that has a worse ratio of good engineers to sh---y managers?

Non productive sales reps will be let go like they should have been 1 yr ago. Mutual holds on to unproductive reps far too long. there is an imminent shake up in field planned. Poor performing RVPs will asked to take new roles as Crms or selling other zero balance product lines. C-Suite is missing the boat on a # of fronts & don’t understand how they are mismanaging client relationships. That is what happens when you have two investment guys running the firm & field ExVps are longago washed up sales reps who don’t understand service.

I have 2 serious questions.

1. Did that Wyclef Jean song ever gain any traction? LMAO
2. Is that Diddy guy still an executive at the company?
   I can’t believe I’m asking this of our once semi-respectable company.

How come the majority of EMG in Member Protection (aka Fraud/Disputes in the Bank) were promoted in the first half of the year (EDs to AVPs, and AVPs to VPs) but non-EMG employees can’t get basic promotions in place approved? Like seriously, you can’t get an employee promoted from a level 3 to a 2 or a 2 to a 1. They get denied or you hear nothing for months on end. Not even trying to get people into Lead position, just into positions that they should be in based on performance and experience and yet so many EMG have been promoted like nothing. Just because you don’t send out promotion emails doesn’t mean we don’t know or see it. Absolutely ridiculous!

“An apologist is someone who writes or speaks to defend and justify a specific belief, cause, or institution, especially one that faces criticism.”

Managers need to STOP being apologists for U.S. Bank and defending bad behavior. While you’re not expected to speak ill of the company publicly , you will gain more respect of direct reports if you’re in line with reality. We can spot fakeness. Those that see U.S. Bank with rose tinted glasses are looked at with disdain. Whatever corporate carrot 🥕 you’re chasing here isn’t worth it if no one respects you at the end of the day.

Will the yearly bonus be better than last year or higher ?
Considering competitors are giving six figures bonus, it's time Seagate management and C suite steps up and gives a fair share to employees

Don't be greedy ba----ds like ASML who are offering 20k bonus vested over 4 years

Seagate management for years has not taken care of employees so this is your one time to show that you really care and actual "HEALING" can begin.

Anyone know what Zoom call today with dept managers was about? Mine wasnt able to get on it

“You saw our preliminary results… The first step is just to own it.” We already do. Every single one of us on the ground owns our number, every quarter, no matter how the goalposts moved that quarter. So let’s talk about ownership both ways: what exactly do you own here? Not the words “own it” in a Monday message : the actual outcome. What’s the consequence for you when the results miss? Who’s putting you on a PIP?
Nobody around you says this out loud, so I will: we had real leaders who could have told you this a year ago, and they didn’t leave for a better offer .... they got pushed out because they tried to correct you. You don’t get to say “no deflection, no excuses” while the people most likely to challenge the plan are the ones no longer in the building, because they challenged it.
Maybe IBM’s software problem isn’t the market, isn’t the customers, isn’t even the products. Maybe it’s you. Look at the CROs and software leaders actually winning out there right now. do you really think they run their orgs the way you run this one? Reshuffling structure every six months, pushing out anyone who isn’t aligned, surrounding yourself with people too scared to push back? That’s not how growth companies behave. That’s how companies behave right before they lose the people who could have saved them.
And look at how these decisions actually get made: under panic, not conviction. Every reorg lands like an emergency reaction to a bad quarter, not a plan anyone thought through. And somehow, in that panic, we’re the ones treated like zero, like we can’t understand a reorg, like we’re not agile enough, like we’re the ones resisting transformation. We are exactly those things. We adapt every single time you ask us to, on a shorter timeline than any of you have to answer for. What we’re fed up with is taking transformation advice from the worst-performing leadership in the room, delivered in a panic, and then being blamed when the panic doesn’t produce results.
And on that note: when you write “we are putting more attention on software consumption,” who exactly is “we”? You and McKinsey in a slide deck, or you and the people actually sitting in front of customers who could tell you months ago that this was coming? Because from where I sit, “we” hasn’t included us in a long time : it’s included consultants who get paid regardless of whether the plan works, and employees who inherit the plan with no say in it.
“Every Second Counts” is a good line for a kitchen sign. It’s a bad operating model for enterprise software. Nobody sells real value in one or two quarters. Value takes time to build because it’s built on trust, and trust takes longer to earn back than it takes to lose. Nobody deploys software in one or two quarters either, because deployment runs on the customer’s timeline and their business needs, not ours. If every second really counts, the first thing that should buy us is more discipline before changing structures, incentives, and coverage models mid-year : not less.
Here’s my Monday growth message back to you: a leader is accountable to the people below him, not just to the market above him. That means listening to employees and customers before restructuring around them, not after. It means being able to say “I was wrong” and “this is going to take longer than I promised,” out loud, without spinning it into a hype line for the next town hall. We show up accountable every day, on our numbers, on our customers, on our word. I’m asking you to show the same thing back .... not another recap of initiatives, but an honest account of what you got wrong and what you’re doing to fix it, including how it affects the people asked to execute it with less time and fewer resources than the plan pretends.
We’re not asking for perfection. We’re asking for the truth, and for someone to actually be willing to hear it.

This place is in shambles because the people running it don't know what they're doing. Most of them got to where they are through nepotism, and it's obvious.

I'm watching more and more people make their exit. One of my coworkers just left for a job that pays significantly less, and he says he's never been happier, and I believe him. Others are just hanging on, waiting for a layoff so they can get severance and then they're gone too. I think management thinks they're saving money, but losing all this talent is going to cost them far more in the long run.

When are we going to be rid of this terrible regime? Any light at all at the end of the tunnel?

Rumor has it that Kamal & Mange are out early August

Any teams shared engagement survey results and action plans yet? We just heard from upper management and nothing to individual teams. I am curious.

You can see it everywhere. People have completely stopped trying. Management doesn't care about us, so we don't care about our jobs anymore.

The people running this place don't know what they're doing. They just play games and waste time. It's obvious and it's hurting everything.

Whenever someone leaves the team, the first question is never "how do we replace this person?" It's "who can take over their responsibilities?" Before long, their entire workload gets spread across everyone else, and we're expected to keep everything running like nothing happened. The problem is that this keeps happening over and over, and the team is already exhausted. People are working longer hours just to keep up, but there doesn't seem to be any urgency from management to address the staffing issue. I honestly don't know what the breaking point is supposed to be before someone realizes we need more people if we're to keep going.

The employees with years of knowledge are expected to solve every problem, train new people, and keep everything moving, yet they're constantly overlooked. Meanwhile, management seems to get rewarded regardless of whether they actually understand the work.

I'm Anxious, Nervous , and basically dreading this meeting more than the others. Vegas in July is the 1st Red Flag. SO many new faces. New Managers, New Team members, etc... I'm just going to close my eyes and click my heels and hope to wake up in Kansas.

I will just Pray.

I really hope No RTMs work a minute over 40 hours. Don't let this company take advantage of you. Do you think any manager in this company works over 40? They don't even work 30 hours. Have you ever seen a DM or RMS come out and help when a merchandiser calls off on the weekend or any other time? I haven't so why should you now that you're an rtm?

As a manager, I could target an individual employee and make it very difficult for them to remain at the company. However, I couldn’t do that repeatedly without consequences because organizations monitor manager turnover rates, and a consistent pattern of employees leaving under one manager eventually raises concerns.

In practice, the process often favors whoever documents their concerns first. If I report that an employee is underperforming before they raise complaints about me, my version of events is already part of the official record.

When the employee later goes to HR claiming they’re being treated unfairly or that I simply dislike them, it can be difficult for their complaint to stand out because HR hears similar explanations from many employees whose performance issues are legitimate. As a result, even when someone’s concerns are genuine, they may sound similar to many previous cases, making it harder for them to be believed. That dynamic can create a system where the manager’s position initially carries more weight.

Everyone is burned out. Not just from the work, but from the endless layoff anxiety. Management doesn't care. They'd love it if we all just left.

My manager is suddenly avoiding me. I don't know if I did something wrong or if he knows something I don't. I tried to talk to him but he keeps finding excuses. How bad is this? Should I start applying?