Thread regarding AT&T layoffs

The Cult of "Leadership" at T

This was somewhat brought up in another post, but I wanted to expand on it.

Does anyone else get tired of the "cult of leadership" at T? Just now, we got an email from ABS about departures of random people. Most of us have never worked for, or with, any of these people. Other than the fact that they licked boots and climbed the corporate ladder to some middle management position, they are no more or less important or meaningful than any other employee. In fact, on a dollar-per-dollar basis, they likely had less effect on anything other than their own wallets.

Yet they feel it's important enough to email blast us, in order to tell us that these people will be retiring wealthy while everyone else is still wondering about their jobs.

This is an extension of the "cult of leadership" that I've noticed when these empty suits are talking on town halls. They throw names around, "Oh this comes into Chad and they route it to Cheryl's shop to to do the hard work before it ends up with Gary." As though anybody knows what it means.

Listen next time. They never mention a department or function or even a team name that handles the work; it's always some the name of some here-today-gone-tomorrow executive, like we're just dying to keep track of the turmoil and constantly changing faces.

It just seems like they're so full of themselves and the echo chamber that they live in.

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| 2126 views | | 8 replies (last June 19, 2020) | Reply
Post ID: @OP+15wyubj5

8 replies (most recent on top)

This place is a cult of personality only to the boot-lickers dreaming of getting a promotion. To the rest of us, these people are a joke.

To be a cult of personality you have to have a charismatic personality to begin with. There is nothing remotely charismatic about the dullards leading this company. Their personality cult is very, very weak.

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Post ID: @1nql+15wyubj5

Yet I don’t recall any mention of the passing of former AT&T CEO Bob Allen in 2016. Bob Allen was an honorable leader and deserving of some acknowledgement. If I missed the announcement, my apologies.

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Post ID: @1dyr+15wyubj5

Yeah pretty weird. But one thing for sure is they are full of themselves and they never admit they were wrong about anything because they view themselves as perfect.

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Post ID: @tnp+15wyubj5

It’s beyond sick.

Eat the rich.

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Post ID: @tlo+15wyubj5

The fact that they send out emails about these people at all is just an indictment of the boot licking culture at the company.

There are hundreds of people who have had a more positive effect: the CO tech who follows up on trouble tickets, the guy working in CSO who answers a weekend call for help about an API that's down, the coworker who regularly comes in early to help a new team member write scripts or debug a database connection. These are the people that make the company work, that get things done, that make connectivity happen.

And you know what? When they retire or get walked out the door, their names won't be in an email. Their SVPs won't be telling everyone the name of their kids and their hobbies. Yet they made a lasting impact to the company and the rest of us.

But these people? They have had no effect on my life. They exist in the bureaucracy to hand decisions down from even more senior leadership, while shielding themselves in the process. They have had no positive impact for at least 20 years, since they were doing actual work.

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Post ID: @lgp+15wyubj5

Anne Chow is leonardo from the ninja turtles. Because she leads.

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Post ID: @wke+15wyubj5

The last executive with any sort of vision that I could look up to was probably Ralph de la Vega. He actually embodied some passion and excitement about our core business. People wanted to buy into what he said because it made some basic sense.

There is literally nobody left to rally around. They are the most lackluster group I've ever seen. Chow? Arroyo? The guy can't even reply to "Good morning" without a cue card. Mair? McElfresh? Which of these is the future look of AT&T? Which has a passion? Which has a vision? I see none.

And yet they convince the Board that without top pay, AT&T can't attract executive talent. I'd argue that it attracts nothing but bootlicker stagnation.

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Post ID: @wwc+15wyubj5

OP - You nailed it. They are impressed with themselves no end and they exist in an echo chamber that is only occupied by their yes men/women who are in continuous pucker mode.

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Post ID: @zqc+15wyubj5

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