It’s mostly because he’s being rewarded for the show of increasing the efficiency the business. Whether or not he actually did anything isn’t usually what shareholders or the board are paying attention to, just the convincing that what they’re doing will improve business. If it doesn’t work, the board fires the CEO, cuts him a severance cheque—that’s the next act.
Neoliberals latch onto a fantasy that these “bold actions” by executives is done to positively impact their companies. Their actions are not for the company’s interest, and most often don’t result in positive results - other than share value rising. All anyone wants is positive news for their superiors so they can get their promotion and their pay. In all likelihood, there was no real reason for the redundancies. It’s performance art.
I describe myself as a little dose of toxic masculinity.
