Family indeed, but dysfunctional, abusive and chockfull of manipulators.
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Why even bother to listen to prepared bs and cherry picked questions with corporate speak answers. Don’t waste your time, log on and shop for some Xmas gifts, check your fantasy football team numbers from the weekend, make some bets on the college football playoffs. I’m gonna care more about what I’m going to order for lunch tomorrow than what those puppets have to say. Bare minimum here. I’ve got my resume updated.
The countdown to every C-suite position is on. We will see who is strong enough to stay on for longer than 5 years after this…which is generous. The decisions they made are difficult, just not sure if they are ones they can live with long-term.
It will be boilerplate fluff and will do nothing to build confidence in the C Suite.
The success of failure of the Global Town Hall on Monday will likely come down to how Brian chooses to open the meeting, the willingness to address some difficult questions (i.e. not screening them out and going for softballs) and the level of involvement for the CHRO.
Brian has an opportunity to acknowledge a bad week in the company's history, and will get even more credit if he admits that things could have been handled better through alternative approaches with communication and transparency. On the other hand, he'll lose the audience in record time if he simply recites talking points and corporate speak that sounds prepared for him.
The broader ET would do well to use the questions offered to likewise accept some culpability for where the company is now, and offer some more concrete examples of why they feel confident they are the team to turn things around (and how). Showing some humility despite holding significant power can demonstrate a more real commitment to being part of the solution as opposed to being ready to blame others if things continue to be a struggle.
But however important these first two items are, the biggest x-factor is what level of involvement Steph has in the proceedings. She has become a lightning rod for employees' feelings on the ET and the headcount reduction efforts of last week, mainly through tone deaf statements and others that came across as grossly insincere. If her role in the Town Hall is to bleat how all dismissals were handled with upmost care and congratulate herself for the smoothness of the process, I could see people walking out of the auditorium and dropping from the webcast. Her best move would be to take a back seat and keep any comments to a minimum... something that likely is against her nature if history with Cargill is any guide.
My expectations are very low for this meeting, matching the general morale in the company right now. I just hope the meeting doesn't make things worse.