Fellow Stakeholders and Shareholders:
The moment has come for us to take charge of the situation at hand and call for the immediate removal and replacement of C level and senior Staples leadership.
We are at a juncture that calls for action and there are no longer weeks, nay minutes, to spare in making the directional change that is so desperately needed within the organization.
We can no longer sit idly by and allow the continued degradation of our investments whether financial or career oriented to occur under the current leadership and direction of the Staples Board of Directors and C / VP level management.
We cannot allow ourselves to be deluded into thinking that we are not on the precipice of disaster under the current sitting executives and board.
When a person in a position of power begins to alter the definition of words to suit their own needs as our interim CEO did recently with the word "Accountability", it is propaganda; it is unethical; it is repugnant.
Information that is not impartial and is used primarily to influence an audience and further an agenda, often by presenting facts selectively (Examples: lying by omission, excluding details, etc.) or using loaded messages to produce an emotional rather than a rational response to the information presented is propaganda; and is the tact being taken by our interim CEO and senior leadership to drive the message of the need for employee ownership and deflect away the failings of leadership and the truth behind why an employee had to give up their entire weekend to deliver products to stores.
Accountability is, and always will be, defined as: the fact or condition of being accountable; responsibility. Accountable: required to explain actions or decisions.
Ask ourselves:
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What has happened to our stock price since June 14 when our interim CEO took control?
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What public announcements have been made by the interim CEO that have instilled faith in a new direction, sound leadership, fiscal returns, and the ability to keep Staples relevant through the 21st Century or even the next 3 - 5 years?
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Where is the Visionary Statement and Cultural shift that redefines Staples and moves it out of the rut it has been in for the past 15 quarters of declining sales and stock value?
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How is it possible that the executives, who have failed not only the shareholders but Staples employees and their families through this lengthy period of decline, are still allowed to retain their positions?
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Are we to be another Wells Fargo in which the failures of Senior Leadership are allowed to be assumed by the charges that were following the directives from the management chain of command?
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Are we to allow that same Senior Leadership to profit from the losses of so many and the costs to so few?
We deserve better for the work we put in and the money we invest. We expect a leadership team to deliver on the contract they have made with us to better our collective lives. We are tired of having to bear the brunt of the failures of those above us and be expected to accept the blame that is not of our making.
We demand a culture of accountability that starts at the top and not the bottom of the corporate ladder.
In closing, our interim CEO asked for quotes to inspire and our interim CEO chose:
"Always be a first-rate version of yourself, instead of a second-rate version of somebody else." - Judy Garland.
Perhaps the choice should have been:
"Lead, follow, or get out the way." We suggest you do the latter.
- Publius