{"id":219,"date":"2019-10-28T05:19:33","date_gmt":"2019-10-28T10:19:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/topcandidateresumes.com\/?p=219"},"modified":"2019-10-28T05:19:33","modified_gmt":"2019-10-28T10:19:33","slug":"why-do-so-many-american-corporations-eat-their-young","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/topcandidateresumes.com\/why-do-so-many-american-corporations-eat-their-young\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Do So Many American Corporations Eat Their Young?"},"content":{"rendered":"
Five days before Christmas, a family member (a rising star Division Director of Engineering) told me he\u2019d just been fired.
\nQUESTION:\u00a0Why do so many American corporations eat their young?<\/div>\n
MY ANSWER: Because beneath the veneer of all their\u00a0\u201cwe\u2019re so wonderful\u201d\u00a0PR, much of Corporate America is a \u201cShark Tank\u201d of paranoia, deceit and jealousy, and anyone looking there for work should do so with their eyes open.<\/div>\n
(C) SurftherenowBackstory:<\/div>\n
Applying for the job two years ago, the CEO saw his r\u00e9sum\u00e9, pronounced it\u00a0\u201cdisruptive\u201d, and demanded to meet the engineer behind it. Within a week he was hired.<\/div>\n
The division he hired into was dysfunctional. To fix it, the CEO told him to\u00a0\u201cBe disruptive.\u201d\u00a0That meant:\u00a0Demand performance. Don\u2019t settle for the status quo. Don\u2019t tolerate whiney excuses for not making budget or goals. Reestablish a sense of urgency. Resolve quality issues. Restore profitability.<\/div>\n
Accepting his mandate, he charged ahead, stepping on toes. Some of the toes kicked back.<\/div>\n
One example: A subordinate manager threw a heavy notebook at him in front of witnesses. Seeking guidance from HR, he was astonished when the best the HR Manager offered was,\u00a0\u201cWell. Boys will be boys\u201d\u00a0and did nothing.<\/div>\n
A brilliant engineer with a scary-bright mind, his technical skills, courage, leadership and work ethic were just what the division needed. Knowing he needed management training, he requested it. Denied. No budget, nor could he use his own budget.<\/div>\n
Blind to what now looked like the handwriting on the wall, he soldiered on, trusting \u00a0his new manager of only a few months and the CEO\u2019s mandate.<\/div>\n
In two years he made major progress. In his first performance appraisal he was recognized for achieving a product turnaround that no one had been able to do in seven years.<\/div>\n
Universally loved? No. Change agents aren\u2019t.<\/div>\n
Acknowledged, respected and valued company-wide as a breath of fresh air by those who recognized what he had done for the Division? Absolutely.The \u201cOpportunity\u201d<\/div>\n
Chairing a staff meeting two days earlier, he didn\u2019t handle it well when an employee refused to give him information he requested. The employee complained to HR.<\/div>\n
The HR manager, rather than immediately meeting with them both, or suspending them both, suspended my relative pending the results of their\u00a0\u201cinvestigation.\u201d\u00a0No one asked him for his statement.<\/div>\n
Trusting in the CEO\u2019s support and believing his two-year record of achievement would compensate for having lost his cool for a few minutes, he expected he would be \u201ccounselled\u201d when he met with his boss and HR, and was stunned to learn he was fired.<\/div>\n
The CEO ignored his calls as the company closed ranks, but\u00a0one tiny bit of truth did seep out.<\/div>\n
Meeting with his staff after his unfair termination, the managing director let slip that she had planned on replacing him with her own person in 1Q14. She and the company took advantage of this\u00a0\u201copportunity\u201d\u00a0to advance their timetable.<\/div>\n
He\u2019s an honorable man who plays by the rules. He believed that the reward for achieving the CEO\u2019s goals would be advancement and recognition, not deceit and termination.<\/div>\n
He learned a brutal lesson about life in the Shark Tank.<\/div>\n
While I\u2019m angry for him, I\u2019m not worried about him. He has effectively documented his accomplishments and has a well-connected network of people who are pissed on his behalf and are helping him network .<\/div>\n
And I\u2019m the r\u00e9sum\u00e9 strategist who helped him create the customized\u00a0\u201cdisruptive\u201d\u00a0Professional Profile presenting him as an\u00a0\u201cIdeal Candidate.\u201d\u00a0We did it once; we\u2019ll do it again.The real issue<\/div>\n
Why do so many American corporations callously screw their employees, strangle themselves with their own Catch-22, and then complain about lack of employee loyalty?<\/div>\n
They say they want top-notch engineers with leadership abilities and executive potential, but when they get one, rather than counsel, train and develop them, they betray them.<\/div>\n
My 2014 hope for Corporate America and their Boards of Directors \u2013\u00a0May this be the year you\u2019ll finally live up to the hollow words of your Corporate Values and Mission Statements , and realize that\u00a0Your Employees Really Are Your Most Valuable Assets.<\/div>\n
Since this situation is pure Dilbert, Scott Adams gets the last word.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Five days before Christmas, a family member (a rising star Division Director of Engineering) told me he\u2019d just been fired. QUESTION:\u00a0Why do so many American corporations eat their young? MY ANSWER: Because beneath the veneer of all their\u00a0\u201cwe\u2019re so wonderful\u201d\u00a0PR, much of Corporate America is a \u201cShark Tank\u201d of paranoia, deceit and jealousy, and anyone […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/topcandidateresumes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/topcandidateresumes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/topcandidateresumes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/topcandidateresumes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/topcandidateresumes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=219"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/topcandidateresumes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/topcandidateresumes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=219"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/topcandidateresumes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=219"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/topcandidateresumes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=219"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}