I would think that all of the middle managers have an incentive to balloon the company because it gives them more status. So the top leaders are fed a bad hiri

I would think that all of the middle managers have an incentive to balloon the company because it gives them more status. So the top leaders are fed a bad hiring strategy from their lieutenants. It is ultimately the C-Suites responsibility to keep middle managers in line but it would be difficult to push back on the army of middle managers in a bull market when they could just leave if they don't get their "career growth". The cynic in me wonders if the black pill is that these boom/bust cycles in employment are mostly unavoidable. Maybe it does make more sense to balloon during a boom, grow more than you need like a chipmunk hoarding acorns. Better to have the talent and not need it than to need it and not have it.