Yesterday, you may recall we discussed the comments made by Nigel Barron, who spend 13+ years at CSC before the merger with HP (when DXC was formed). After nine months at DXC, Nigel was sacked. I was sad to see him go because he was one of the few folks in CSC who pushed hard to persuade its executives to spend time with HFS analysts (as opposed to Gartner, IDC etc). I remember Nigel would frequently share our work with his team and would put out some pretty cool insights.
Firstly, I would like to thank Nigel for excusing the behaviour of many people for acting like “nodding dogs” to keep their jobs. Secondly, I would personally like to apologize to Nigel for inadvertently portraying him as one of the nodding canine family, when, in fact, he is anything but. Nigel asked me to publish his explanation that he was actually sacked by DXC because he was fired for refusing to conform to the nodding brigade, daring to challenge a firm that (let’s face it) is in danger of drifting into insignificance.
“Hi Phil, thanks for the mention. I was the antithesis of the nodding dog at CSC/DXC, so much so that it probably contributed to my being laid off last December. I was a top five company internal blogger on the company’s collaboration platform writing blogs such as ‘The end of management’ and ‘Nowhere to hide’. My bosses kept the faith until the second round of layoffs occurred after the merger. My then boss had an easy choice to make when told to find someone to cut, although there were other circumstances that I won’t go into here (Mike Lawrie refers to ‘Pyramid corrections’ in earnings calls). I do sympathise with analysts who have become nodding dogs for the reasons I mentioned in my comment, but that doesn’t mean its the right thing to do. I’ll be 54 in a couple of weeks, I’ll never, ever be a nodding dog but I’ll always be a supporter of HfS, you and your team. Nigel”
If anyone from DXC is reading this, you need a few characters like Nigel who can shed some light on what your firm is trying to accomplish, as we – at HFS – are flummoxed with the whole premise behind this merger. Why remove the only people who can challenge you, just because you can? Good luck Nigel – feel free to share any of your views with us in the future, you are developing quite a sympathetic following. DXC is poorer for your absence and you deserve better, my friend. PF
Posted in : Outsourcing Heros
Fantastic share Phil.While every company today likes to boast or brag big on innovation, significant achievements and future strategy, they continue to have leaders who still think like the 80s. You be a nodding dog to them, they like you. You bring in real ideas to them without being a nodding dog, they kick you out. But as they say, it is a loss to the company and smart people move on. During my CSC stint, I have had the pleasure to work with Nigel, and I am sure a person like him would have never wanted to work in such situation. Glad that he showed courage…
Phil,
Really enjoyed these discussions this week and am glad you shared hour own and Nigel’s story. I completely agree that some companies allow a freedom of thought and spirit, while others, such as DXC, like to squash it out of people. In this market we need to harness creative talent as it’s our only differentiator…
Stephen
This is vintage HFS! Please don’t go soft on us like everyone else Phil.
Kudos for standing up for the little guy.
To me, this is a classic example of one of the core issues with many legacy enterprises – for too long high unemployment and low stability in personal finances has allowed them to hold all the cards. It’s led to most of them kicking out the innovative and disruptive to fill up their ranks with people who won’t question anything. Over time employees have evolved to know not to question or challenge, and yet paradoxically enterprise leaders are lamenting the lack of fresh ideas. The next iteration of this is the, frankly, absolute madness we’re seeing in the future of work discussion – where the foundational principle is that employees are desperate for any work. So they won’t mind saying yes to everything and handing over any job security in favour of a ‘newer and cooler’ labour market where they have no power or voice. If you keep your head down and do your gigs, you might make it out alive. But raise one objection and off you go. It’s all so unforgivably misguided; these enterprises no longer hold all of the cards – and this blog is a great example of how dangerous it is for them to continue thinking they do.
Dxc has been firing resources for a long time now. Last quarter they fired few of my best friends. Another list is yet to be revealed this quarter… Fingers crossed for everyone when each quarter comes to an end… No hike for the last two years even for the top rated employees. Company doesn’t look at the well being of employee anymore….. Really is not a good place to work any more..
We are officially the new Glassdoor ????