Twenty-four years in the same system — and what we celebrate is endurance, not progress. HR calls it loyalty. Most of us call it survival.
Look at that photo parade of executives. They’re not symbols of a healthy company — they’re evidence of what went wrong. These people are responsible for Verizon’s decline, not because of who they are, but because of what they failed to do. They traded competence for branding, strategy for slogans, and accountability for optics.
Upper management turned visibility into the goal. Titles grew; real responsibility shrank. While they polished personal brands and ran PR campaigns, the work that keeps the company running — the network, the customers, the finances — quietly eroded.
This isn’t a comment on gender or diversity. It’s about a leadership culture that values appearance over results. They didn’t inherit a broken company — they perfected how to hide failure. And now, as another round of layoffs nears, they’ll post about “resilience” while others pack boxes.
Smiles don’t fix towers, routing, or cash flow. The pictures tell the story better than any press release.