Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Technology Stocks : Lucent Technologies (LU) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: telecomguy who wrote (15366)	7/12/2000 12:11:33 PM
From: Anonymous	Read Replies (5) \| Respond to of 21876

"In fact that is one of the most important jobs that a CEO of such a large company has..........to identify talent, recruit, nurture, motivate and excite the middle mgmt. to compete hard." I personally don't think any CEO can do all the things you think he can in a company as large as LUCENT. It can't be done. The most successful people in companies as large as LUCENT are usually self-motivated and know how to push and pull themselves along. LUCENT is just too!..too spreadout...too many layers (so what is really middle management?)...too cultured...too big! One of the problems with a company as large as LUCENT is that in the early stages of development for so many of the so-called middle managers, a lot of incompetents get themselves promoted quickly up about three layers and then they are discovered for what they are but they have already developed a strong network of friends at their own level or above and they never get demoted. And all the while they sit at that level they act as a roadblock to anyone under them that has to go through them to better themselves. These potential roadblocks are hard to recognize in the beginning of the process because when they start out they appear to be smart because they speak up all the time, they know how to play the game to get themselves moving, they are quick to align themselves to the political layout of their departments, divisions, or what have you. Robert McNamarra, the whiz kid from Ford who went on to work for us taxpayers as Secretary of Defense during the Vietnam War, had it correct when he said way back, "If you want to get ahead, get behind a good boss!" They lôôk like good managers. LUCENT and many other companies develop programs to identify so-called potential top management in order to promote them quickly. All the ambitious ones are quick to recognize the rules and how the game is played and they morph themselves into something that lôôks good, however, over time these programs get corrupted and then the programs die a slow death, soon to replaced by another program that will be the saviour in identifying once again the so called bright boys (and girls). In the meantime, the CEO of the company gets all the good news that comes "up" the pipeline telling him how well things are doing. In the big company culture, no one sends bad news "up" the pipeline. It's filtered! The bad news is quietly suppressed and only those at the bottom know what is truly going on...whether it be technically or politically. That's life in a big corporation. I don't think that things have changed that much in the five years since I've been retired. I worked in one for 35 years. It's name was Western Electric when I started out, it later became AT&T Microelectronics before I retired, and it is now known at the moment as Lucent Technologies. That may change in the near future if they spin the bottle again and out flies the Microelectronics portion to become something with a "new" name. The new entity will either be embraced by the STREET and smothered with kisses or they will feel the almost kiss of death and a slow and arduous life on the STREET. The best run companies where people are the happiest are usually small in nature, without many levels of management, where all employees usually have access to what is going on, and also a management that is highly visible to everyone in the organization......ANON