In a fit of finger-wagging, Andi Owen, the CEO of a high-end furniture company, is the latest corporate executive to "go viral" illustrating the crisis in empathetic and courageous leadership.
"...the company sells office furniture. How do they expect to sell furniture for offices when they themselves — their leader included — don’t go to the office?"
This part of your essay says it all for me, "I’d add, this whole incident is evidence of the corrosive nature of working virtually. When you don’t connect with actual humans regularly, well, it becomes all too easy not to treat them like humans."
It is corrosive on so many levels, yet the laptop class demands that WFH is here to stay and won't return. How will company culture survive this? We can't build civilization from our beds, in yoga pants, Zooming all day. There are consequences for being apart. People are losing their sense of civility. Young workers aren't able to connect and become a part of the future of the company. My son just started his first full time job, 9-5 from his desk in his bedroom. He HATES it. Fortunately, his internship with PlayStation this summer is in person, and he can't wait. We are doing a disservice to the kids graduating and launching their careers to force them into isolation like this, rather than embracing them into the adult world.
WFH is also killing downtowns, yet the same laptop class is upset with rising crimes in their city centers. DUH!!! If you abandon a place, darkness will fill the vacuum. Empty buildings are a beacon for crime. CRE is about to tank and guess what, most of the city's pensions are heavily skewed with CRE mortgage assets. We are more than little islands GrubHubbing our lives away from the kitchen table.
If I were a CEO of a company, I'd call everyone back now. M-F. Too bad if you moved out of the area, want your job, come in. They will loose a lot of staff, but how important are they? How productive are they really? The workers think they're productive, but Sundar at Google disagrees. They have the data. Time to use it. Hire young workers to fill the roles of those who refused to return. Take the painful hit, can't be worse than what's happening now. In a year at most, the hungry will return. A flood of unemployed laptop workers will hurt the economy as well, but many will get new jobs and in the end, most will end up back in the office. It just takes courage to pull off the band aid. On My 11, Covid is officially over, at least that's what the White House says.
Smacks of "Quit being a bunch of A**HOLES, you bunch of a**holes!" Andi Owen needs to curl up in a nice warm blankie in front of a fire in her cozy, little mansion, pour herself three fingers of a nice, smokey bourbon, and reread Robert Cialdini's "Influence: The Psychology of Persuassion." Boss Lady went bonkers.
I had a similar experience when working for a small tech company. Came in one Monday and the CEO asked me how my weekend was and when I proceeded to tell him I spent time with my son he cut me off midsentence and said I don’t care about your son and the time you had with him I care about the numbers on the board behind you! That was a real motivator
Thanks to lower and lower corporate taxes through the decades, corporations are not interested in hiring or reinvestment, which is a write off.
Instead, the big thing are bonuses and stock buy backs, which mostly benefit the top 5% wealthy class.
Yes, we own stocks in our 401k but the majority of it is in the hands of the wealthy and the mega firms like blackrock.
BTW, the nurse that fainted did an interview and it turns out she had a gag order... Like they tried to get you with, but they didn't even offer her a payment. They used it to hold her job over her head. How the fk is that legal? It violates labor laws. At least in your case they offered a payment in exchange.
This reminds me of Clark Griswald when his year end bonus turned out to be a subscription to the jelly of the month club in National Lampoon, Christmas Vacation.
Don’t count on a bonus....that’s why it’s a “bonus”.
"...the company sells office furniture. How do they expect to sell furniture for offices when they themselves — their leader included — don’t go to the office?"
~~~
The meaning of irony.
And relevant, in an actual way.
This part of your essay says it all for me, "I’d add, this whole incident is evidence of the corrosive nature of working virtually. When you don’t connect with actual humans regularly, well, it becomes all too easy not to treat them like humans."
It is corrosive on so many levels, yet the laptop class demands that WFH is here to stay and won't return. How will company culture survive this? We can't build civilization from our beds, in yoga pants, Zooming all day. There are consequences for being apart. People are losing their sense of civility. Young workers aren't able to connect and become a part of the future of the company. My son just started his first full time job, 9-5 from his desk in his bedroom. He HATES it. Fortunately, his internship with PlayStation this summer is in person, and he can't wait. We are doing a disservice to the kids graduating and launching their careers to force them into isolation like this, rather than embracing them into the adult world.
WFH is also killing downtowns, yet the same laptop class is upset with rising crimes in their city centers. DUH!!! If you abandon a place, darkness will fill the vacuum. Empty buildings are a beacon for crime. CRE is about to tank and guess what, most of the city's pensions are heavily skewed with CRE mortgage assets. We are more than little islands GrubHubbing our lives away from the kitchen table.
If I were a CEO of a company, I'd call everyone back now. M-F. Too bad if you moved out of the area, want your job, come in. They will loose a lot of staff, but how important are they? How productive are they really? The workers think they're productive, but Sundar at Google disagrees. They have the data. Time to use it. Hire young workers to fill the roles of those who refused to return. Take the painful hit, can't be worse than what's happening now. In a year at most, the hungry will return. A flood of unemployed laptop workers will hurt the economy as well, but many will get new jobs and in the end, most will end up back in the office. It just takes courage to pull off the band aid. On My 11, Covid is officially over, at least that's what the White House says.
Call them back in the office.
Smacks of "Quit being a bunch of A**HOLES, you bunch of a**holes!" Andi Owen needs to curl up in a nice warm blankie in front of a fire in her cozy, little mansion, pour herself three fingers of a nice, smokey bourbon, and reread Robert Cialdini's "Influence: The Psychology of Persuassion." Boss Lady went bonkers.
She has pronouns in her LinkedIn bio, which is always a red flag. No matter how much company value DEI and ESG commissars destroy, they will never be held accountable. Here are many more examples: https://yuribezmenov.substack.com/p/how-to-flex-on-linkedin-cringe-contest?utm_source=profile&utm_medium=reader2
I had a similar experience when working for a small tech company. Came in one Monday and the CEO asked me how my weekend was and when I proceeded to tell him I spent time with my son he cut me off midsentence and said I don’t care about your son and the time you had with him I care about the numbers on the board behind you! That was a real motivator
Thanks to lower and lower corporate taxes through the decades, corporations are not interested in hiring or reinvestment, which is a write off.
Instead, the big thing are bonuses and stock buy backs, which mostly benefit the top 5% wealthy class.
Yes, we own stocks in our 401k but the majority of it is in the hands of the wealthy and the mega firms like blackrock.
BTW, the nurse that fainted did an interview and it turns out she had a gag order... Like they tried to get you with, but they didn't even offer her a payment. They used it to hold her job over her head. How the fk is that legal? It violates labor laws. At least in your case they offered a payment in exchange.
Wait. Higher corporate taxes would have prevented this CEO from losing it in front of her employees, c137? Really?
While you're at it, would you mind quantifying your "top 5% wealthy class" reference? Inquiring minds...
I'm saying that this culture of executives making more and more bonuses is a result of dropping corporate taxes.
Corporations pay taxes on their revenues minus expenses.
When taxes are low, there's less of an incentive to REINVEST in the business and more and more money goes to bonuses and stock buy backs.
That's why she's so spoiled to be upset that they didn't hit their goals so she doesn't get as much of a bonus.
Top 5% is wrong. It's more like between the top 1% and 0.1%.
https://www.investopedia.com/personal-finance/how-much-income-puts-you-top-1-5-10/
This reminds me of Clark Griswald when his year end bonus turned out to be a subscription to the jelly of the month club in National Lampoon, Christmas Vacation.
Don’t count on a bonus....that’s why it’s a “bonus”.
Could these corporate cretins be any more odious? Methinks not..
Yes she should really go back to work , apologize in person. That would be leading by example the right way of behaving.
Maybe MillerKoll’s business model would be best if they develop office furniture made for people who work from home. Imagine the possibilities.
Not all people are cut out to lead, just like not all people want to do a trade, or work the land, or be in military.
Methinks Andi failed upwards into a position she is not suited to be in, perhaps she would make a better 2IC?
Thank you! My bad. Corrected!