What She Said

From Accenture’s CEO Julie Sweet:

“We’re trying to—in a very compressed timeline where we don’t have a viable path for skilling—sort of exiting people, so we can get more of the skills we need.”

Two crazy phrases in this one — “viable path for skilling” and “sort of exiting people.”

Really?

C-Level phrasology has always been interesting. A mix of cover-your-ass with just enough truth to defend it on the stand at a later time. It can be hard for workers to decode what they’re really saying. Luckily, I’m well-versed in translation.  

Here’s what she said:

“It looks like we won’t meet our promised financial goals. (Could be this quarter. Could be next quarter.). Therefore, we’re laying people off. Those that we’re laying off fit into one of two categories: a) we think we can replace them with AI, or b) they can’t help us get more profitable with AI.” 

One more reminder — figure out how to get AI to work for you, or you will work for AI.