Larry Weidel argues that companies stall because of management stupidity, self-interest, and lack of shared purpose. Toxic employees won't change, so they must be removed. The fix is recognizing these problems early and acting decisively.
It was obvious to you even at that young age, I'm not going to fix this. These situations, attitudes, and expectations are cemented in. I've just got to get rid of them and start fresh.
Is that right? If you ask me about that situation now, I would very much say a leopard doesn't change its spots. You've got to get rid of the bad eggs or the bad apples because they'll rot everything else. Did I know that back then? Probably not. It was probably a lot more along the lines of, well, you're not doing what I want you to do and I can't be bothered with this bullshit. You need to leave. But it was Right answer by default.
Well, by default, you stumbled across the issue in a lot of mediocre and non-performing companies. When they're not unified behind a common purpose, that's gonna stall out. It's amazing what stalls out companies today in terms of lack of productivity is management stupidity or management self-interest.