As I was researching stocks this morning, I came across an interesting article on Yahoo Finance about CEOs getting “ruthless” about worker performance: https://finance.yahoo.com/sectors/technology/articles/ceos-getting-ruthless-worker-performance-094511146.html
It got me thinking about how I advise business leaders on culture, efficiency, and getting the best out of an organization.
There’s truth in the idea that companies sometimes need to cut dead weight. High-performance cultures cannot survive when accountability disappears.
But too many executives are using “work harder” messaging as a substitute for actual leadership.
In many ways, this feels like the corporate version of hustle culture. It glorifies pressure, urgency, and output while ignoring the operational dysfunction that makes sustainable performance difficult in the first place.
If a company wants higher output, faster execution, and more ownership from employees, leadership also has a responsibility to provide:
- Functional systems
- Clear communication channels
- Efficient processes
- Proper training
- Modern tools and software
- Alignment between departments
You cannot demand elite performance from employees while forcing them to work inside broken systems.
What concerns me about this trend is that some organizations are treating every employee like an underperformer instead of identifying and developing the people already carrying the company forward.
The future intrapreneurs, the natural leaders (and many time defacto) inside organizations, are often the ones most frustrated by inefficiency. They want to produce more, they want ownership; but, eventually they burn out when bureaucracy, outdated systems, and communication breakdowns constantly get in the way.
Strong leadership is not just identifying who to cut; more importantly, it’s identifying who to invest in.
The companies that win long term will not simply be the most “ruthless.” They’ll be the ones that combine accountability with operational excellence, strong leadership, and employee enablement.
Pressure without support eventually creates disengagement, even among top performers.