[gaius]

either the CEO is stupid

He or she might be; plenty get those kinds of jobs on their personal connections rather than their track records.

But a more usual scenario is that the CEO wants to fund their next bonus by slashing jobs, and paying management consultants - with the company's money - to facilitate that is, to that sort of person, a shrewd move.

[cjalmeida]

>He or she might be; plenty get those kinds of jobs on their personal connections rather than their track records.

I'm yet to see a stupid person as the CEO of a large corp. Sociopath maybe, but hardly stupid.

Now an unpopular opinion: maybe the slashed jobs were no longer necessary and letting people go was needed for the company to remain competitive?

[gaius]

Those people were hired for a reason; if the CEO literally cannot think of anything useful for them to do then they have utterly failed as leaders. But they are lavishly rewarded nonetheless.