Intuit

You can make some decent money if you can dance through the carefully constructed 18-month-long contract phase.

I am putting my neck on the line for this post, which is wild that it’s become pertinent. Most will know who wrote this. But I do not exaggerate even slightly when I say leadership is:

• Sociopathic more often than not
• Capable of destroying careers and relish this fact
• Professionals at “cover your rear end” to avoid ever having to do serious, introspective work or planning

If you don’t know you’re surrounded by derpy sharks, good luck. They’re not smart or good, but they have all perfected the art of shifting blame and throwing their ICs under the bus.

To be clear, I’ve never – in 15 years – been on the receiving end of this. But I’ve seen it evolve from an occasional occurrence to LITERALLY the status quo. I’m not sure where all the leaders with dignity and long-sighted vision went, but we need them back.

If you could make one change today, it would be to investigate your own ELT and managers: fire every single person who has shown this predilection for antisocial behavior today. There are LOADS of highly empathic, effective, and darn good leaders out there who would bring this company into a golden age. Hire them. Hire just one of them for every five you fire; you will be blown away at what those next Pulse Survey results show…

Speaking of: did you know your managers are asking their ICs to fix the problems reported about management and leadership failures at Intuit? If you needed proof that these are little cardboard cutout wusses who will do anything they can to retain that sweet, sweet $400k check, there it is.

AI is coming, and these managers and leaders will be the ones to dictate how one of the most transformative technologies in history will be integrated into your company. Doesn’t that terrify anyone? Psychopaths dictate how to implement AI for their benefit vs. for the benefit of customers AND the bottom line. It is not zero-sum; it is win/win, but you have so many “leaders” failing to even understand this, let alone adhere to anything resembling company culture as stated in our bylaws.

Want it really plain? You have massive legal exposure. Fix it. Fire these psychopaths with their rented Lamborghinis and hire some people of character; you’ll be thrilled – and so will your IC groups.