Serious Questions for Ken Griffin
And all the other leaders who think like this
Ken Griffin, the Founder of Citadel, was interviewed and had some interesting quotes about the return-to-office debate. These quotes require some significant follow up, that show how baselessness of his argument.
Read thole thing here, but I’ll excerpt the things I find important.
But bosses want their teams back at their desks where they can see them.
This requires a two-part follow up? First, what exactly are they seeing. In most knowledge work, there isn’t much to see but a final product. Does Mr. Griffin have the power to see inside the heads of his analysts. Second, is that what he thinks a manager does? Watch people work? Most managers I know are required to do a heck of a lot more and actually struggle to find the time to interact with the team.
Citadel founder and CEO Ken Griffin said bosses are less likely to fight for staff who they see in person less often as fears of continuing layoffs mount.
I thought capitalism and the efficient business was built on meritocracy? If all it takes is showing your face, then a lot of people should have been promoted and avoided layoffs. I seem to recall many orgs doing layoffs before remote work - which means this leader is simply making poor choices.
“We’ve all read about companies that have fired thousands of people on Zoom calls. There’s no sense of ‘That’s Jane who’s worked down the hall with me for years, and I’m going to go the extra distance to keep Jane employed here.’
This is that it says more about the person who can only feel empathy for someone they know than anything else.
It also lays to rest the false premise that organizations make layoffs strategically. Layoffs don’t happen with the precision of ensuring they keep the best talent and the most deserving people. Layoffs are decided by numbers. In fact, having been on both sides of the layoff situation, the decisions on who to lay off and how many is done in secret with little input from people who have the most information on the skill and value of the employee.
To simplify what Mr. Griffin says: we keep the people we like - regardless of performance.
“What worries me in a hybrid work environment or work from home environment [is] the cultural or social contract that holds people together in a company is unquestionably weaker.”
I agree with Mr. Griffin on the weakening of the bond - although I tend to think it can be a good thing. Forgive me for being cynical (but too many executives have proven me right to believe anything else), but what he means is that the employer doesn’t have as much control over the employee. Which benefits the employee and the company doesn’t like that. The world will be better off when we build stronger bonds between people and their communities, not their companies.
An effective counterargument to my thinking is that the bond between employer and employee was incredibly successful in building America. I agree - back before Milton Friedman espoused his evil premise that the organization was beholden to the shareholder. If Mr. Griffin wants to go back to the idea of employers being loyal to workers and communities - and providing pensions and the like - I’ll be there. Something tells me that he would argue against that.
His quotes and thinking are symptomatic of the larger problem in America and the world. Superficial comments are just that - superficial. They rarely stand up to any scrutiny when critical thinking is applied.
To be more succinct, he spews BS because no one is willing to call him on it.