I wouldn't expect anything else, honestly. What is the Chairman going to do, publicly deride the CEO on this call in front of members? Never going to happen. Wayne could have been sitting in his office doing nothing but eating Funyuns for the past 3 years and the Chairman would praise him on this call. (Ironically, he probably would have done less damage to the company if he was just eating Funyuns...)
But members see what's happening.
Employees see what's happening.
The Board sees what's happening.
Things are going to change. It may not be as swiftly as we want it, but Wayne isn't going to be in charge for much longer, either because he gets ousted or because the company goes under. Wayne only knows how to cut costs (cheap, quick "wins"). He's never had to come up with ways to increase profits that didn't involve making changes to the expense column. It's been his MO for years: Come into an area, flip tables, cut costs, get promoted, leave. He's never had to deal with the long-term consequences of his decisions because he's always moved up/out before then. Profits increase in the short term, then the next leader is left cleaning up the mess.
While fintech companies are innovating and releasing great products/services for customers, Wayne is trying to figure out how to make products/services from 2012 profitable by laying off people and getting rid of discounted healthy meals in the cafeteria. It's sad and pathetic.
Did USAA need to get leaned out a bit? I think if we're being honest with ourselves, the answer is yes. There are/were a lot of teams and roles that simply don't need to exist anymore due to no fault of their own. But you can only cut so much fat before you start to hit muscle. There's only so much cargo you can throw overboard before you start dismantling the ship itself.
He's focusing on the wrong areas. He's penny wise and pound foolish. He sold off our golden geese when he got rid of some of our real estate, and he pushed out people who were USAA's culture when he laid off certain people. I won't name names, but a certain leader in IT comes to mind. He invented Zero-Day PT and other programs that helped define USAA's culture. IYKYK. I knew when he was let go that USAA's culture was going to go downhill, and it has. It's not just him, it's dozens of others like him that helped shape USAA and make it an incredible place to be/work.
Never in my 10+ years at USAA did I think it would be this bad. I heard of the Bob Davis days and always counted myself fortunate that I didn't have to work here through that. Those were the good ole days when you compare it to Wayne's morale hellhole.