It’s hard to look at the recent layoffs (Microsoft, Google, etc) and not think about the many times the phrase “I take full responsibility for this” has been said.

A while ago I watched a Simon Sinek video where he would explain how, in modern culture, it’s ok to layoff people to make the numbers match so that the company appears in a healthy (or wealthy) state.

Whenever I hear “I take full responsibility” I always wonder what is the price they’re paying. Because looking from here, it seems to me that the only trouble they’ll get into is mostly about their public image, but there won’t be any internal consequences.

How would they stop this from happening again? What didn’t work out?
Why did they make the hiring in the first place?
Because even while reading the full press announcements, those questions go unanswered, and I feel they shouldn’t.