The other day, I stumbled on this tweet about people who would rather build empires than productive companies.
Why does this warrant further discussion?
Because I have seen it at every place I have ever worked…
No joke.
I mean, how in the world can a company like Twitter lose nearly 90% of its employees, and nothing noticeable changes?
It’s because most managers are in a natural conflict with shareholders.
Shareholders want productivity and profit (even if they are too stupid to know how to get it).
Managers want increasing headcounts, steak dinners, travel perks, needless Zoom calls, and four glasses of wine for lunch.
Ultimately all this falls back in the lap of the board of directors.
They have the fiduciary responsibility to watch these issues and keep them in check.
But running a company lean, like a startup, is hard.
As profits come, so do the worthless managers and complacent directors.
Can you imagine being a midlevel manager at Facebook, Google, IBM, or Microsoft if Musk makes all this work?
I would be terrified.
Truth be told – I have a sense that most large companies could lay off half their staff…
Worse, some firms don’t even know what business they are in.