The main problem here is that once management gets rid of good performers and hires their cheaper replacements, not one of them is willing to admit it was a mistake when it becomes obvious within weeks if not days what a monumental fu-kup they made. So instead of admitting they were wrong, they continue to reward incompetence and lack of trying with low expectations and easy tasks. Meanwhile, it's high performers who have to pick up the slack. This creates a culture of mediocrity at best and digs us further and further into a hole.
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Prior to taking CPM in December I was basically not working for the previous 6-8 months due to quiet quitting, my manager having no idea what I was doing, general apathy within our group due to upcoming reorgs, etc. I'd dial into a couple visible meetings each day as proof of life, send out a few emails - real Office Space kinda stuff. After multiple decades at the company, you get to know the flow of how the bo-m and bust cycles work. Things get going and there's free spending, lots of travel, good bonuses, yada yada. The first sign of trouble is small freezes to budgets and then hiring freezes. Then there's a period of uncertainty and rumors and then the cuts come - first voluntary / VSP or CPM or other corporate acronym - then the involuntary cuts. I don't know the numbers from SET and ACT, but it felt like 50% of my teams got whacked. I was only at Intel for 25 years and I saw the cycle repeated 3 times so I have to think the execs and board are well aware of the cycle as well but they just roll with it because everyone's making money. I think they just accept the bust cycle as part of the process or a way to get rid of the older, less productive employees from time to time. Blaming things on "macro economic headwinds" is BS. Anyone with a few years of business experience knows that when everyone refreshes their PCs during covid with free government money, they probably won't be buying another PC for 2 to 3 years so that splurge of buying in 2020 and 2021 was just pulling in future purchases, not a bunch of new demand for PCs from a mature market. I saw this coming years ago and rather than leave I just waited for the inevitable package to get paid on my way out. I loved Intel and worked hard, but at the same time I realize tech is heartless and will drop you when things get tough. Always save for a rainy day and have a plan B as the question of layoffs are not "if" but "when" with Intel
@ags+1ldlvdYf wrote, 'What ruined Intel was a failed board over the last decade that didn’t get Pat, BK, Bob or Pat to rationalize and see that the strategy they took was wrong.'
I think you mean, 'reconcile' or 'explain' instead of 'rationalize'?
rationalize (verb) attempt to explain or justify (one's own or another's behavior or attitude) with logical, plausible reasons, even if these are not true or appropriate.
so, a rationalization is a justification that may not be true or appropriate.
What could go wrong becoming a puppet of the us department of commerce?
What ruined Intel was a failed board over the last decade that didn’t get Pat, BK, Bob or Pat to rationalize and see that the strategy they took was wrong. Each successive failure become bigger and bigger to the point Intel is irrelevant now. Sad ending but busines and economics doesn’t care about layoffs or legacy or who learned at the masters feer!
Failure to a acknowledge competitors action / roadmap and economics and basic finance in favor of dogmatic beliefs was the failure of three of the last four CEOs, FUBAR