How companies went from fighting a ๐๐ฎ๐ฟ ๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ ๐๐ฎ๐น๐ฒ๐ป๐ to waging a ๐๐ฎ๐ฟ ๐ผ๐ป ๐๐ฎ๐น๐ฒ๐ป๐…
Reading Ross Pettitโs excellent latest article, I was struck by how much it echoed my own recent thoughts about the shift in employment ๐ด๐ฐ๐ค๐ช๐ข๐ญ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ต๐ณ๐ข๐ค๐ต, and how misplaced metrics and incentives are creating a dangerous shift where future value is being sacrificed on the altar of “quarterly growth”.
The article, while focusing on tech companies, captures this shift perfectly:
โข Once known for growth, learning, and a strong culture
โข Now turned to rigid financial discipline where everything has to be measured
โ๏ธ But to measure and compare, you have no other choice than increasingly boxing employees into easy (dehumanizing) metrics like cost, because measuring real valueโlike innovation or cultureโis ๐๐๐ง๐.
๐ผ This shift is eroding the social contract between companies and their employees, as what once defined a companyโs identity gets forgotten.
Labor becomes interchangeable, erasing the unique contributions of individualsโat the expense of the very people who built the success.
We are starting to see the consequences of this shift across various industries, not just tech:
๐ซ ๐๐ผ๐ฒ๐ถ๐ป๐ด: The obsession with quarterly results at Boeing led to tragic consequences with the 737 Max and more recently Starliner crises. By prioritizing cost-cutting over long-term safety and innovation, the company suppressed engineering mindsetโonce its greatest strength, undermining the very foundations of its past success.
๐ป ๐๐ป๐๐ฒ๐น: Once a market leader, Intel has struggled to maintain its edge, missing key opportunities in mobile and GPUs. Even their stronghold in CPUs is now under threat, with recent generations plagued by critical faultsโevidence of cutting one too many corners.
๐ก๏ธ ๐๐ฟ๐ผ๐๐ฑ๐ฆ๐๐ฟ๐ถ๐ธ๐ฒ : The recent CrowdStrike outage, which affected many companies is a stark reminder that many executives prioritize outsourcing responsibility and reducing costs over what’s best for their customers.
Let me leave you with these two quotes, which come from different contexts but, together, I believe, perfectly capture the issue at hand:
โ๐๐๐น๐๐๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐๐ ๐๐๐ฟ๐ฎ๐๐ฒ๐ด๐ ๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ ๐ฏ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ธ๐ณ๐ฎ๐๐โ – Peter Drucker
โ๐ง๐ฒ๐น๐น ๐บ๐ฒ ๐ต๐ผ๐ ๐๐ผ๐ ๐บ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐๐๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐บ๐ฒ, ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐ ๐๐ถ๐น๐น ๐๐ฒ๐น๐น ๐๐ผ๐ ๐ต๐ผ๐ ๐ ๐๐ถ๐น๐น ๐ฏ๐ฒ๐ต๐ฎ๐๐ฒโ – Eli Goldratt
When the culture becomes “drive by numbers”, and organizations measure only whatโs ๐๐๐จ๐ฎ, they optimize for short term and lose the behaviorsโcreativity, problem-solving, collaborationโthat created their success, and may end up facing existential risks.
Agree or disagree? Please share your thoughts in the comments! ๐