Thread regarding Chevron Corp. layoffs

It’s not technically a kickback when LC is just repaying his lifelong debt of following his old boss around with every single job through Wally World, Dell, HP, General Motors.

He’s trying to take care of his friends at GM just like his old CIO took care of him.

What is extremely disgusting is that his old boss is now the leader over the EY group, and he is giving EY all of the IT business and none to other companies.

And the EY consultants who are doing work at Chevron for millions of dollars do not actually have any experience in the areas that they’re assigned to.

All of this is not Chevron and it's general process... this is how it works. Let's define a kickbck 1st... it's is a hidden benefit given to someone in exchange for steering business, approving spend, giving preferential treatment etc.... To simplfy it it - let's call it bribery....

In a consulting/procurement setup, it flows like this:

• An execs controls vendor selection.
• A consulting co (or other vendor) wants the work.
• The execs steers contracts to that firm, they can shape the RFP, be discouraging competitors... approving inflated invoices, often bypassing normal sourcing/procur. processes.
• In return, the exec gets SOMETHING private.

That “something private” is the bribery, kickback... It does not have to be a literal pile of cash. it takes many forms :

• cash payment
• free vacay, travel, meals, gifts, entertainment
• a future job or board/consultant role
• hiring the execs friends or relatives
• subcontracting work to a co tied to the leader (the most often used one)
• political support inside the co (we know how this works)
• inflated consulting rates that get shared back somehow (see two bullets above)

So, the exec approves a $5M consulting SOW. The consulting firm secretly gives the manager $100K (unlikely), or hires the exec's child at a unreasonably hi salary, or promises the manager a future partner/consultant role. The co pays more than it should, the vendor wins unfairly, and the exec benefits personally.

Sooo, it's very, very, very hard to catch...

• consulting work is fu--ing subjective and it's “value” is hard to prove - execs spin the story and they are not questioned
• big cos already use consultants anyway so spend gets buried
• bribes are disguised as referrals, jobs, travel, subcontracting, favors
• approvals may technically follow procedures even if the steps are messed up...
• the theft is spread across budgets so nobody sees the full picture - if finance is not all over it (most of the time its not) anything flies
• inside folks are not stupid and see it but they lack access to docs, emails, invoices, or payment trails and they fear retribution - everyone is silent.

That'd be it, it's not rocket science. it's as old as humans. Look at previous and this WH administration are doing and it's so obvious. If you've been around the corp block for a while you have likely witnessed it already.

I retired in 2023 so I cannot speak about what's happening at Chevron, please dont conflate the generic outline I provided with what's happening on the ground today. Also, keep in mind that execs tend to be as lazy as anyone else and irrational decisions are often made out of laziness as they do not want to deal with multiple consultants, vendors, suppliers etc.

Cost-cutting is being used as the public justification while consulting spend increases.

@1dt LC tried to bring his whole crew over from GM, but instead of hiring them through the normal process, he is using EY as a pass-through and spending tens of millions of dollar on non value add work.

Every supplier that bids for work with his organization basically loses on every deal because he is approving all spend over $1M and he gives them all to EY

hmm, reading comments and i am still confused how this works.
whos making $$$ and what's irregular here?
honestly i think every bigger co is using consultants

@r4 cutting cost is just based off of made up metrics. Just like ELP with their consultants pretended to create value by tracking stuff in that CP tool.

LC is cutting cost and justifying spending tens of millions on his cronies from EY. Somehow IT is more expensive today than it was 5 years ago.

Similarly, ELP is counting savings from things that people would have done with or without CP. They tell everyone to stop using consultants like they’re holier than thou.. but the majority of ELP cost is consultants

He was brought in to cut costs. He is a useful pawn. Once he is finished then they will dispose of him.

The Les we talk about it the happier thEY will be

i am curious too

Who are you talking about?

EB and RM made the hire and gave the guy a long leash to do whatever he wants to do.

Firing him would be admitting a massive mistake too early in the process. They need to sit in it and bathe in their own sh!t for a bit before letting the guy go.

This is almost the same thing as all the improprieties that happen with key leaders operating in different countries. It is easier to pay someone off than to hire a new head of (whatever country).