Culture rot takes a long time. It's slowed by the employees who just want to vest their options and get out of there. It's promulgated by the jerks and sociopat

Culture rot takes a long time. It's slowed by the employees who just want to vest their options and get out of there. It's promulgated by the jerks and sociopaths who see no problem with the culture of stepping on others to rise up the ladder. It's calcified by those same jerks who become managers and justify their actions, because everyone else at their pay grade is doing it. By the time it becomes a real problem, upper management is such an insular echo chamber that they can hardly recognize or acknowledge the problem. Enter the harbinger of American corporate stagnation: the outside management/PR consultant, whose job it is to identify the problem, be thoroughly ignored by management, and be quietly paid and asked to leave while the rest of the executive team plays hot potato with the blame until they find the right people to fire for Wall Street to stop bellyaching. Then once the stock is back up enough, fly out with a golden parachute. The people at the bottom of the ladder? Fuck 'em. If they don't recognize what's going on, it's their fault they get taken advantage of, right?