The first value listed on the vaunted Solventum mission slide is Put People First. I don't get it. How can senior leadership say with a straight face that they "put people first" when they so obviously do not? They could change it to "Put People at the VP Level or Above First and Everyone Else Second" and that would more accurately capture it. But why lie about it? Why not be honest and say, "Put Stock Price First"? (Bryan Hanson couldn't figure out stock price gains at Zimmer, but we'll set that aside for a second.) Why say you're "transparent" when you're not? Why send a company-wide email announcing a 4-year "Transform for the Future Initiative" six minutes before announcing that initiative on a quarterly earnings call? So many questions. Here's an idea, which I know no CEO will ever implement. What if, instead of creating Transform for the Future Initiatives, hiring more SVPs, and laying off more peons to cut costs and "reallocate resources," what if a CEO did something real and radical? What if a CEO said something like this: "I was going to lay off 2,000 more employees this year, but then I said no. We put people first here, so I'm putting my money where my mouth is. I'm cutting my salary, bonus, and stock incentive compensation package this year down to the average Solventum employee levels, and all my direct reports will do the same. Any new hires at the VP level or above in the next two years will NOT get signing bonuses. For example, we won't give singing bonuses like the one we gave to Tammy Gomez that is approximately equivalent to 30 years of the average worker's salary. Also, no more guaranteed severance packages that exceed one year of salary. In other words, we will actually implement the value we hold most dear, and we will PUT PEOPLE FIRST!" Okay, I know this will never happen. I live on the planet earth. But imagine if it did. Imagine how loyal of a following a CEO would get from his or her tens of thousands of employees. Imagine how little it would matter financially to that CEO and his direct reports, all of whom are already rich. He could even ratchet their salaries right back up again after "the year of impoverishment" and no one would care. And in the meantime, he would have gained a cultlike following of people ready to take a bullet for him. I'd argue he would get even richer over time. And most importantly, for one tiny flash of an instant of his career, he would be putting people first. I dare you, Bryan.
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Heard from multiple sources. Annoucnements likely coming tomorrow for more layoffs. Watch your emails tonight.
This is an epic post.
So true and on target.
Thank you the original poster - this is very good and smart.
We all benefit from this.
Good luck all.
@pv that's interesting.
She is a self help salt crystal healing weirdo
Look up Midwife Muse Amanda Hanson
She is just a bit too late for the Hale Bopp comet unfortunately
@ar Baxter CEO is Bryan's brother in law, a fun and possibly non-coincidental tidbit for trivia night.
@ar That's the worst. People like Heather get GUARANTEED millions when they should be working the Thanksgiving Day soup kitchens, helping feed those that they have dispossessed from homes and livelihoods. BOO to Bryan, Peltz the parasite, and others who eat the flesh of this once great 3M HC business.
Just wait until you guys get a load of Heather Knight, the Destroyer of Buffets and companies.
She and the Baxter CEO (who was with Bald Bryan at Covidient) took Baxter from 80 a share down to 17 a share today and left the company an shell of what it was.
These people are professional locusts.
@OP YES! My morale is GONE with this company. THIS is what he SHOULD do, but he won't. It makes me very sad. I used to be proud to be part of this company. :-(
I also posted on the SAP item about working the galley on 3M implementation that still isn't done.
Bryan sadly blew what goodwill he had when he sold his soul for 40 million. Judas only got 30 pieces of silver. Some 83 year old billionaire decided to use money his investors loaned to him to buy a 5 percent stake in SOLV. Then he decided that SOLV needed a transformation. A real leader like Indra Nooyi at PepsiCo told the same billionaire hands off when he tried to force her to split the drinks from the snacks business. Bryan should have met with the other 95 percent and told them the strategy and told Peltz to buzz off.
That and when people saw the photos of him as CEO in his last job and how he miraculously un-aged by some 10 years and grew a full head of hair after having a receding hairline, he's proven to be as fake as a three dollar bill.