You aren't wrong, but CEOs are also herd animals. Someone starts talking about a new initiative or a new idea, suddenly they are all talking about it to keep up

You aren't wrong, but CEOs are also herd animals. Someone starts talking about a new initiative or a new idea, suddenly they are all talking about it to keep up with the Joneses. So when enough start talking about cuts or scaling back hiring, they all have to address it or they fear looking out of touch. Cuts can also help pad quarterly numbers, regardless of the real health of the company, so it can help those execs keep their job just a bit longer so long as it looks like they are demonstrating leadership.