The Numbers Don't Lie (But She Does)

Loading...

Loading voices...

I know. A month. Some of you thought I'd been caught. Others thought I'd been "remapped to a new role" and was still trying to figure out what it meant. One of you asked if you should file a missing persons report.

Relax. HR can barely find a qualified director. They're not finding me.

Something personal came up. I can't share details because details are how you get identified, and I rather enjoy being employed. I'll say this: it had nothing to do with the blog, the God-Mother, or Hodor finally learning how to Google "Blogspot." I was unavailable. I'm back. And I brought receipts.

Some of you are upset with me. I've read the comments. "Where are you?" "Do something." "We need you." I hear you. And honestly, it means more than you know that you expect something from this blog. That tells me it matters. But I have to be straight with you: I started this to document. I'm not your union rep, your lawyer, or your replacement for the Learning Team that the Step God-Mother just eliminated. I'm one person with a VPN and an unhealthy relationship with Hans Zimmer soundtracks. What I CAN do is give you the tools, the data, and the platform. What you do with them is the revolution.

Starting now.

Her Own Staff Graded Her. She Failed.

While I was away, the Westeros Staff Experience Survey results for ITS dropped. And colleagues, they're spectacular.

Not spectacular in the way the God-Mother hoped. Spectacular in the way a building demolition is spectacular. You can't look away. You just stand there thinking "that used to be a perfectly good building."

Before you read this, remember: this survey was conducted BEFORE the blog. Before the consent form. Before the AMA. Before the Red Wedding. Before the layoffs. These numbers are the GOOD version.

Her report card:

Culture of Openness & Trust: 45% (Westeros average: 61%)

VP Creates Fair, Supportive Environment: 46%

Staff Can Speak Up Without Fear: 48%

Recognition: 50% (Westeros average: 54%)

Work-Life Balance: 50%

Manager Support: 61% (Westeros average: 66%)

Fewer than half believe there's a culture of trust. Fewer than half believe the God-Mother creates a fair environment. More than half are afraid to speak up. Her own staff. Her own survey. Her own questions.

If this were a restaurant review, the health inspector would shut it down and the chef would be on a no-fly list.

That 48% is the number that should end careers. Not ours. Hers. This blog exists because more than half of her staff can't open their mouths in a meeting without calculating whether it'll cost them their job. We didn't create the problem. We just proved it has a number.

And what's the God-Mother's action plan?

"Trust & Speaking Up" ... host more Ask Me Anything sessions. Because the last AMA went brilliantly. Seventeen days between promises and mass layoffs. And the colleagues who actually spoke up at that AMA? Look around. Notice who's missing. Maybe this time the lies can last a full month.

"Manager Support" ... Agile Team Formation workshops. The same managers she kept Acting for two years, blamed for low scores they didn't cause, and now expects to fix her mess with workshops. That's like crashing the car and asking the passenger to take a defensive driving course.

"Recognition" ... a Recognition Wall. A literal wall. Staff are losing jobs, visas, homes, and the action plan is a wall. Perhaps departing colleagues can pin their redundancy letters on it. Frame them. Add fairy lights. Call it art.

I dare you to run the survey again. Today. Anonymous. Post-Red Wedding. Let's see where 45% trust lands after you lied to 900 people on camera and fired them seventeen days later.

You won't. Because you already know.

The Pulse Survey Trap

They've launched a new "Transformation Quarterly Pulse Survey." Fun fact from their own newsletter: clarity on transformation direction dropped to 21%. One in five. After two years.

But here's the real treat. I opened the form. Right there at the top:

"Hi [Name]. When you submit this form, the owner will see your name and email address."

Let me translate: "Please be honest about the transformation that just fired people for being honest. We'll know it was you. Thanks!"

Don't fill it in. Let the participation rate be the answer. When the majority of staff refuse to put their name on honest feedback, that number IS the feedback.

Women's Month: A Masterclass in Irony

The God-Mother is hosting a Women's Month panel on March 19th: "Designing the Future of Work: Women at the Center of Jobs, Technology & Systems."

Beautiful. Empowering. Someone should notify the women.

A disproportionately high number of women were removed from management positions during this re-org. Men were preferred. 

The God-Mother is celebrating women at the centre of the future of work while removing women from the centre of actual work. A VP who disproportionately eliminated women in management hosting a Women's Day panel is like the iceberg hosting a Titanic memorial. Technically allowed. Morally bankrupt.

What Happened While I Was Gone

February 9th happened. You lived it. The 15-minute funerals. The scripts. Staff on G4 visas called in on a Friday before a holiday weekend, because nothing says "dignity" like maximizing your anxiety window.

Then the God-Mother began her email campaign. February 11th: "dignity, empathy, and compassion." Two days after the Red Wedding. That email belongs in the Louvre of Corporate Hypocrisy. Right between "Your call is important to us" and "We're all in this together."

February 25th: opened 30+ new positions and called them "meaningful choices and pathways." Translation: we fired your colleagues, stripped the furniture, now bid on the empty rooms.

March 4th: new external managers in TO. Three Acting Managers thanked for their service and replaced. Again. The same pattern. The same thank-you email that reads like a corporate obituary. "We appreciate their contributions." You know what else contributes? Keeping your promises.

And in CO, the Sultan's manager positions are being re-interviewed after the original process was cancelled for irregularities. But don't hold your breath. Word is the same outcome is being engineered — external for the Citadel, favourites for King's Landing. If this process produces the same result as the one that was cancelled for being flawed, then what exactly was the point of reposting? We're watching. Every shortlist. Every selection. Every convenient coincidence.

Meanwhile, a staggering number of EIJ cases have been filed against her. When has any VP in Westeros history faced that volume? And now she's blaming managers for low psychological safety scores. The same managers she kept Acting for two years. The same ones she's replacing. "You broke it. Fix it. Also, you're fired." That's not leadership. That's gaslighting with a budget.

What I Did While You Thought I Was Silent

I wasn't idle.

I have been in direct engagement with oversight bodies, including INT, on three specific areas of concern. These include documented patterns within ITS and extend to concerns raised about IFC as well. Evidence from your submissions has been shared, with your anonymity fully protected.

I want to be straight with you: I don't control what happens next. Oversight bodies move at their own pace, follow their own procedures, and reach their own conclusions. I can document. I can submit. I can follow up. That's what I've done, and I'll keep doing it. But I'm not the judge and I'm not the jury. If they need more from you, I'll let you know through the form.

The 360 They Cancelled. We're Bringing It Back.

When the God-Mother arrived, 360 reviews stopped. No more upward feedback. No more staff rating leadership. Convenient timing. Like removing the mirrors right before you gain weight.

So we're running our own.

Five questions. One minute. Anonymous. No emails collected. No names tracked. Unlike the Pulse Survey, this one won't snitch on you.

Rate the VP. Rate your Director. Compare the new leadership to the ones they replaced. Tell the next VP what they need to know on day one.

📊 The 360 They Cancelled → Fill It Here

When enough of you respond, we publish the results. Every director, ranked by their own staff. Sultan vs. Fake Sultan. Master of Coin vs. The Merchant. Lockhart vs. anyone who's actually read a book. Every comparison, documented.

The 360 review Westeros was too afraid to run, delivered by a Blogspot page that costs less than one hour of a Heidrick & Struggles invoice.

I'll handle the data. You handle the truth.

Winter Is Here

Word travels in Westeros. And the word from above King's Landing is that the Red Wedding didn't just shock staff. It shocked the people who hired her.

Business clients across Westeros are asking why ITS is in chaos. Other VPUs know. The Managing Directors know. When the clients you serve start questioning your competence, the protection from above evaporates fast.

The blog didn't destroy her reputation. She did that herself. The blog just made sure nobody could pretend they didn't notice. 154,000 reads across 147 countries makes pretending rather difficult.

Her chapter in Westeros is ending. Everyone can feel it. Including her.

When she updates LinkedIn, it'll say "Led a transformative initiative at a premier global institution." What it won't mention: 45% trust, hundreds of formal complaints, a blog with 154,000 reads across 147 countries, and a 360 review delivered by the internet that she'll never be able to delete.

We'll make sure the internet remembers what LinkedIn won't.

To Everyone Still Here

154,000+ reads. 147 countries. 300+ submissions. 1,189 comments.

One person started this. Thousands kept it alive. She couldn't kill the consent form quietly. Couldn't run the skills assessment unchallenged. Couldn't execute the Red Wedding without it being documented in real time.

She still thinks she's running a transformation. She's running out of time.

📝 Share your story (Original Form): Submit Here

📊 NEW: Rate your leadership (The 360 They Cancelled): Rate Here

~ The Chronicler

P.S. To the God-Mother's front office team sourcing her hand-picked artisan chocolates wherever she travels: we see you. We also see the irony of a VP who demands curated confections while offering staff 15-minute meetings and redundancy letters. At least the chocolates come with a choice of flavours. The staff got two checkboxes.

P.P.S. To the staff upset I was gone: Fair. But I'm one person. You are 1,300. I gave you the blog, the form, and the platform. Now I'm giving you the 360 review. The revolution isn't me writing posts. It's you filling them in. Though I'll admit, my posts are funnier.

P.P.P.S. To the Merchant, who took five minutes to end decades of careers and couldn't even read the script properly: your 360 is live. I'd offer to read the results to you, but you'd probably disconnect after five minutes.

P.P.P.P.S. To Groot: we know you'll defer this post to Hodor. That's fine. Hodor is reading it too.

P.P.P.P.P.S. To the Fake Sultan, whose town hall was described by his own staff as "an absolute disaster," and who helped decide which people fit the new architecture despite not understanding the old one: there's a 360 review with your name on it. Well, your character name. Same thing at this point.

P.P.P.P.P.P.S. To the women who held management positions before the re-org and don't anymore: this post is for you. Happy Women's Month. You deserved a leader who practiced what she panelled.

P.P.P.P.P.P.P.S. Run the survey again. Anonymous this time. We triple dare you. 🎤

P.P.P.P.P.P.P.P.S. To those still reading in silence: blog comments can't be traced to you. Form submissions can't be traced to you. File with EIJ. File with IJT. One complaint is a grievance. A hundred is an investigation they cannot ignore. Be the hundred.