Thread regarding CDW layoffs

Take the NFL-why are some teams consistently good and some consistently bad? Bad/Good players? Or do we think that maybe Bill Berbichik, Mike Tomlin, Pete Carroll etc just happen to be very good at management and training their staff into the mission. And do we think that the Dolphins, Texans, Lions etc failures are all down to the players, or poor coaching and management?

No-bad managers are the reason companies fail-good managers are the reason for success.

Hi there,

I’m looking for a position where I can make a lot of decisions without knowing much about the industry. Is this the right place?

I like golf, yachts and private jets.

Thanks in advance

Corley wasn’t let go. It’s been widely known that she’d be retiring soon and the news finally came that it’ll be in 2026. The argument is whether she was demoted or not, which who cares because regardless, having a year+ to transition the role to Liz, while being solely focused on international, is a good decision for all parties. Stop being so ignorant.

CDW needs to spend the necessary money in a couple of areas:

1. Go above and beyond and do what it takes to get the Salesforce project 100% completed. That project is creating so much extra work for so many people. Get it done and become more efficient.
2. Build a local reseller mentality, look at the big picture/future road map of a customer account. Remove the hurdles of getting services engineering in the door, give sales the ability to make it happen.
3. Let sales leadership that is close to the customer make decisions. Stop wasting time and forcing them to have to go 3-4 people higher for approvals. Trust the team to make the right company decisions that will drive revenue and profit. If that sales leadership is abusing this ability then you fire them, but if you don't trust them to make decisions why are they in a position of management to begin with. For example: give every sales manager a yearly petty cash amount to run events (without having to go up to PPM for approval and money), get services assistance if needed, buy down deals if needed (without having to go up top for approval), or higher extra temp staff to help their team if things are behind.
4. Move to an outside/in model versus the inside/out model that exists today. Putting more boots on the ground an in face of the customer helps to build stronger relationships.

Bring back the classified ad!!

Chris Leahy is hiring for pedigree vs. hiring for experience in the EC. It’s almost like an academia mentality. There are many people in CDW who have run large businesses and sales teams in our industry. Move them up and force-focus on relentless sales and services execution. That is all that matters anymore.

I am a former CDW coworker--let go in a layoff earlier. I still have great friends there and want the company to be successful.

However, it sure seems like there is more emphasis on doing fun things, speaking at conferences about things that are not important and having coworker get-togethers as compared to building the business. It has been a rough 8 quarters for CDW and I don't understand why more time is spent entertaining, as compared to figuring out how to grow the business. Where is the sense of urgency? When we foresaw bad quarters coming, it was all hands on deck. I am just not sense that to be the case any longer.

Perhaps I'm wrong, but when I look at LinkedIn, that's what I have observed.

This is what happens when leadership is all about soft number financials which is why the stock is down graded due to "enterprise spending concerns" and the business model is noted as "there are limited levers that the company can use to try and boost earnings growth.."

Trustworthy leaders usually right-size their finances, also there are CEOs who take pay cuts to help balance financials and save employee jobs.

There are some really decent leaders out there, just not in the right positions.

“forcing a selling model they put in place that is absolutely ineffective”

Can you explain this? Curious what you mean. They don’t control the selling model.

• I think the poster it referring to the new "roles" in Security, and as a seller that has been here for a over a decade, I agree, it adds so much extra administrative nonsense to get an engagement with the SSE/SSA/SSS, much less a quote, for both product and services.

“forcing a selling model they put in place that is absolutely ineffective”

Can you explain this? Curious what you mean. They don’t control the selling model.

"Conor or Stephanie have technical and executive chops and actually know what the customer wants and needs"

Wrong.....and they are dying on the sword by forcing a selling model they put in place that is absolutely ineffective, creates much more noise between front line sellers and the technical folks, slows down the sales process drastically and simply doesn't work. So much feedback has been given that simply gets pushed aside, and here we are.

@bpa+1vfwDshA yes, there are some non-technical 'ladies' however, there are also non-technical men in positions where they are literally copying and pasting from scripts.

I got to dump this stock now.

Whether she was let go or quit/retired doesn't matter. She's a good person who cares & this is a good company with good people. All that said, we DO need a shakeup at the top couple of layers with some new blood, a halting RIGHT NOW of the wasteful pet projects , distractions & failed initiatives, instill new performance management HR philosophy that cuts dead weight immediately, and a maniacal focus on selling our way out of this mess to right the ship. Those would be my only 4 objectives if I were Chris L and I hope she has the courage to do them.

"Corley didn’t get let go, you putz"

She sure as heck did, you putz. Yes, she's still on the payroll enjoying the evergreen pastures of CDW advisory and "rest and vest". But no more CCO or COO. She was finally relieved of duty based on her leading the sustained dismal commercial performance that was announced today. "We thank her for her service". Crossing fingers that her peer is next.

A tech company?? I think you're mistaken with that label, CDW doesn't invent anything "tech", we resell OEM technology and throw some install services on top. Are you suggesting we hire engineers & developers as executive management instead of business people? And that only males are qualified to lead businesses? Hello - 1960's IBM management style calling.....

Corley didn’t get let go, you putz

Is CDW still in business?

Hello, Hello, Anybody Home? Hey, Think, McFly, Think…

Chris Corley was let go last week, and was replaced by Liz Connelly, who to her credit, posted good numbers in healthcare according to the earnings release. She's a minor upgrade but she's another leader who doesn't know technology or VARs. Her performance is all because of her team. Meanwhile, people like Conor or Stephanie have technical and executive chops and actually know what the customer wants and needs, but they are ignored and made irrelevant. And what happened to the DV executive team from IGNW or the Sirius executives? The Service Now leadership? The business leader of Enquizit? The leader of Amplified? So much experienced leadership talent that could have helped but just left the business. And the whole Eccles DV debacle. He was another leader who seemed to get it. What drove him out? I guess they all saw the writing on the wall before the rest of us. And on top of it all, we've managed to ruin every single recent acquisition with our arrogance and ignorance. The board really should be asking these questions.

thank goodness we're an all weather team, we're built for this

CDW top end is comprised of almost all female leaders with non-technical backgrounds. This is reflected across the company. SB East with absent leadership at the top from female bosses on down

Non-tech people leading a tech company. What could possibly go wrong?