what’s your thoughts on Corporate initiatives and programs?

Every year it’s something different. Easily the worst part of my job.

This year’s flavor...Automation

Yes. KOCH facilities hammer home MBM principles to no end.
It's basically Charles Koch's "look at me" project where he rehashed every management concept taught in college through his own Lil book and PowerPoint slides.

I got fussed at during an IT meeting where we were all assigned a principle and had to teach it to the department at next meeting.
I said "why don't we focus on what we make here and how to do it better than this stuff we all learned in college and MBA school?"

Every employee is given this book


This bullshite is plastered all over every single Koch-owned facility and is talked about Non stop. Common sense shite that they spend hours preaching about every month.

Fulfillment is last

You can't make that shite up

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do it better than this stuff we all learned in college and MBA school?

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if everyone learned it in MBA school, then why aren’t they all applying it equally?

He may be getting back to the basics by starting with foundational principles.

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He may be getting back to the basics by starting with foundational principles.

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That's why you send management to CLEs or retreats or whatever. Then let them foster corporate culture on down to custodians.

You don't make EVERY employee in the facility hear this same shite every week during meetings. And you don't hand them a management book and threaten to test them on concepts.

Company culture is extremely hard to form. IMO if it didn’t form early on in the company when there were a manageable number of employees and grow from there. Good luck trying to change it.

I retired from a 34 year career in pharmaceutical sales. When I first started, training covered all the basics:Products, materials, reports, regulations, etc.

Received territory information, physicians, hospitals drug stores. Was told get to know your customers and try and maintain a four week coverage. Made many business friends that developed into personal friendships.


And then the tech age began.

All reports were done on computer and managers had to check the boxes after field visits. The check marks mattered more than sales. Young managers would get upset if a doctor wanted to talk football or what his kids were up to.

Sales meetings covered diversity training, sexual harassment and all the other flavor of the day trainings.

Voice mails, computer reports, conference calls and emails became the name of the game. All designed as GOTCHA tools for management. I am so fortunate to have enjoyed the years of fun sales before the MBA and check list movement began. My last ten years taught me to keep my mouth shut at meetings and never try and help new reps out.

This is probably too long for many to read, but I could set up a conference call.

Couldn’t agree more.

In my opinion; service organizations that are designed to assist production, such as QA & EHS, have become too powerful within organizations, driving a CYA atmosphere.

If you watch the show Billions, it shows an awesome exchange between Axe and his compliance officer that illustrates what the dynamic between management and these Service Org’s should look like.

Different industry (construction equip sales), but this is eerily similar to our delusion in middle management.. I’m 8 years in, and I feel like I missed the good years.

As a rep, I could capture an unprecedented market share, yet get ‘coached’ on forward planning or lack there of in the CRM.

We can’t seem to figure out why sales talent is leaving like the house is on fire.

Except for the QA and CQI programs that started getting traction some years ago, can honestly say I've never seen an "initiative" that produced lasting positive change. I've seen quite a a few do the opposite.

For sure have never seen an outside consultant "expert" who was worth much. There are plenty though that can talk a good game.

Generally, a monumental waste of time and money in a company that already has good culture, policies and practices.