For the back half of the 20th century (what Fortune founder Henry Luce called “The American Century”), MBA and law degree programs were a ticket to a great office job and a path to the American Dream. The 21st century is asking the question: What happens when all those office jobs get automated?..
He has just given himself an eighteen month deadline to succeed or lose his own job. At least, that’s how I’d interpret it if I was in a position to fire his ass.
Actually, I’d interpret it as him losing his job in 18 months regardless of whether he succeeds or fails, since management is a white-collar job.
Executives would be the perfect jobs to automate really, there is little they do that computers couldn’t, and they are such high value positions nowadays.
I would just fire him now for being obviously incompetent. How can someone competent make such an unrealistic prediction?
If you work for a large enough organisation it’s almost impossible to get fired. Microsoft like most organisations almost certainly operate on the PIN system, or something equivalent.
Basically to get fired you have to get yelled at by your manager, then have a documented yelling at from HR, then get another documented yelling at from HR, then get put on report, then fail to improve, and then you’re fired. Each stage has like a 2-month cooldown before the next step.
Start to finish the whole process can take over a year. Most people quit out of boredom before it gets that far. If you are not literally the most incompetent employee in the department you’re probably safe.