Before Charlie - I was invested in the job, productive and a proud problem-solver. I felt part of a team, all working towards the same goal. It was not perfect, but there was a healthier balance between the good and the bad. Stumpf and Sloan appeared to consider employees as assets through encouraging us to advance our skills, various team-building activities, managers hosted formal and informal functions. Less micro-managing, no constant threat of layoffs, much better atmosphere. I was working with and for friends. I enjoyed my job.
How bad of a CEO do you have to be, for employees to prefer John Stumpf??
(My division was never involved in the fake accounts scandal. Those employees rightfully have a different perspective.)
Under Scharf- I’m down to giving only 30% of my full capacity. I fought Charlie’s soul-sucking managerial style for the first year. But I eventually realized there is zero motivation to give more, knowing my best efforts are not recognized or respected. Charlie has gone out of his way to cultivate distrust and ambiguity, to demotivate and devalue his workforce. The old me would have felt guilty about accepting my paycheck and not giving 100%. The new me has adjusted to my environment and developed a “survival of the fittest” attitude. I see a similar shift in many of my co-workers.
How is the CEO, who…
- initiates a war against his managers and employees
- drives away or demotivates skilled competent employees
- destroys employee productivity and results
- implodes valuable institutional knowledge
- leads with dishonesty, divisiveness and underhanded tactics
- underinvests in effective technology, tools and talent
- has a short-term short-sighted mindset
- Impractically replaces proficient professionals with cheap inept labor
- and, forces employees in to less functional work space
….optimizing efficiency??
Answer: He’s not.
It’s a classic con, smoke and mirrors. Charlie is using misdirection to manipulate and control what people see and what people miss. Data can be misrepresented, with a deliberate intention to mislead people and promote an agenda. Scams count on our gaps of knowledge, our trust in the man in the expensive suit.
I hope he is exposed soon. And I hope it is his employees who expose him.