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I read a lot of hate online about how executives are evil, greedy, exploitative leeches. Here's a story looking at the other angle - this is a person responsibl

by sdwr 3y ago

I read a lot of hate online about how executives are evil, greedy, exploitative leeches. Here's a story looking at the other angle - this is a person responsible for the livelihoods of lots of people, and maintaining an American institution. Sure, what he did might not have been novel or revolutionary, but someone had to do it. And you only get one shot!

llm_trw 3y ago
>this is a person responsible for the livelihoods of lots of people He sounds like his doing his best to lessen that burden.
- falcor84 3y ago
  It does, but on the other hand, especially after reading Bullshit Jobs, I'll argue that a business has something akin to a moral obligation to not create more roles than are actually needed to run the business.
al_borland 3y ago
We never really know how the executives feel about the layoffs behind the scenes. Sure, some are done for greed, but a lot probably do fall into the category of sacrificing the few to save the many. Then there are those in the middle who need to deliver the news, who have to shoulder the burden, but are just doing their job. I worked with a guy who moved up from an entry level job to director pretty fast. I trained him when he started, and when he made director I was working adjacent to his team, not under him (we had the same boss). The first time he had to lay someone off he asked me if I wanted to go to the bar afterward. It was not a celebration, it was depressed drinking. He occasionally said some things between long stretches of silence. Even though the decision wasn’t his, he felt a heavy burden of responsibility for those people’s lives, he was gutted having to lay someone off, and felt like he failed them… even when there was nothing he could have done, it was how the company operated. He never showed this at work, and always tried to appear objective and detached to some degree, but every layoff was like this, and he felt like I was the only person he could talk to. If I wasn’t there I’m sure he’d just drink alone and spiral as the guilt ate him alive. But to his employees, he was the jerk boss who laid off their co-worker and didn’t care.
karaterobot 3y ago
I didn't mean it to be a harsh criticism. What I'm saying is that if my conjecture is correct, they will need some other strategy for sustaining The Atlantic long term. So, more like let's not write articles implying the job is done yet.

by sdwr 3y ago

llm_trw 3y ago

>this is a person responsible for the livelihoods of lots of people He sounds like his doing his best to lessen that burden.

falcor84 3y ago
It does, but on the other hand, especially after reading Bullshit Jobs, I'll argue that a business has something akin to a moral obligation to not create more roles than are actually needed to run the business.

al_borland 3y ago

We never really know how the executives feel about the layoffs behind the scenes. Sure, some are done for greed, but a lot probably do fall into the category of sacrificing the few to save the many. Then there are those in the middle who need to deliver the news, who have to shoulder the burden, but are just doing their job. I worked with a guy who moved up from an entry level job to director pretty fast. I trained him when he started, and when he made director I was working adjacent to his team, not under him (we had the same boss). The first time he had to lay someone off he asked me if I wanted to go to the bar afterward. It was not a celebration, it was depressed drinking. He occasionally said some things between long stretches of silence. Even though the decision wasn’t his, he felt a heavy burden of responsibility for those people’s lives, he was gutted having to lay someone off, and felt like he failed them… even when there was nothing he could have done, it was how the company operated. He never showed this at work, and always tried to appear objective and detached to some degree, but every layoff was like this, and he felt like I was the only person he could talk to. If I wasn’t there I’m sure he’d just drink alone and spiral as the guilt ate him alive. But to his employees, he was the jerk boss who laid off their co-worker and didn’t care.

karaterobot 3y ago

I didn't mean it to be a harsh criticism. What I'm saying is that if my conjecture is correct, they will need some other strategy for sustaining The Atlantic long term. So, more like let's not write articles implying the job is done yet.