Following the RIM problems over the past several months has been a study in abject failure of leadership and while predicting the mass layoffs was a given it does leave me with a feeling of sadness and frustration that 5,000 people are losing their jobs-not because they failed-but because of a failure of leadership. To read this morning that the RIM CEO, Thorsten Heins, actually stated to the media that "there is nothing wrong with this company" http://mobilesyrup.com/2012/07/03/rim-ceo-says-theres-nothing-wrong-with-the-company-as-it-exists-right-now/)must come as a blow to those 5,000 people. Thorsten Heins isn't losing his job so perhaps he simply doesn't realize how truly heartless his comments are to those that are losing their jobs.
There is plenty wrong with a business that had so much opportunity to be a resounding, sustainable success and simply failed to take advantage of that opportunity. There is much wrong with announcing that 5,000 jobs are lost because of a failure of leadership without ever showing any sense of responsibility for that failure. This is far from the first business in which the purported leadership turned out to be anything but leadership, in which the 'leaders' took care of themselves and saw the massive job losses as "not personal, just business"-yet given all the examples that business "C" suite types have to improve on, they simply are not doing so.
And they wonder why employees are not engaged, committed, and loyal? It isn't that hard to understand-is it?
On a brighter note-RIM had some great employees regardless of the unLeadership steering the organization-and now-they will have the opportunity to show what they know they can do and hopefully for a business that understands what leadership should be.
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