The Rise & Fall of the Frito Empire

History failed to be learned is doomed to repeat. or some such crap. The point is, if you don't learn from your mistakes, or the mistakes of others, all you are is a hamster in an exercise wheel.

My point? The drum roll... and a history lesson from a person in the cast of characters.

Years ago, I was hired right out of college to work at Xerox Corporation. Wow. I was jazzed. Xerox was a great company, fantastic products, a future. In 1979, Xerox OWNED the marketplace in small copiers. 92% marketshare is total domination. There's nothing like being part of a freefall into the toilet to make a person sensitive to management stupidity. And losing as much marketshare as Xerox did could only be management stupidity. "We make the best dang buggy whips around and that's exactly what we are going to keep doing!" Picture the ostrich with it's head in the sand, denial of a problem. or better yet....hiring cheerleaders as managers. but that's another story.

So, decades later, after running and selling my own successful business, I am back in the ranks of the corporate employees. And still sensitive to the stupidity of managers that have no idea what their decisions are doing.

And so, to the Rise and Fall of the Frito Empire, I salute you. Yes, with that finger.

Frito has made the dubious decision to hire in managers, rather than promote from the ranks of the folks that have actually DONE the job. Oh, I hear HR & middle managers shouting, no wait, that's not what we are doing! uh, yeah, that's what you are doing. When you hire from the outside, no matter at what level, you are freezing the manpower into their current spot. You are hiring people that have no idea what the business is actually about at the front line. and yes, "front line" is TWO words. talk about ignorant. like not knowing the difference between their and there. "Frontline" is a trade name for fipronil, a material used to control fleas and ticks on dogs & cats. or a tv show. but I rant...

So I sit in the front line, slinging potato chips in grocery stores and c stores, wondering how long it will take before the empire collapses upon itself.

In the old days, when the economy started to turn sour, management was compressed to cut overhead. ahh, but in the Xerox model, when business gets bad, the corporation ADDS managers! get out them buggy whips. and so Frito is repeating history. Business is bad, so let's add more managers. Instead of a district sales leader having more heads to watch, let's add recent college graduates with no experience to be additional managers. huh? in what reality does that make sense? oh that's right, the cheerleader reality. you know the one - "Go Team Go". The ultimate filters of reality, the cheerleader. The team is down 114 to 60 and the cheerleaders are out there jumping around, yelling and screaming for their losing team to go, go, go, they can do it! and so the downfall of the American economy can be ultimately traced to the rise of the American cheerleader in business. You don't shoot the messenger if the messenger is a cheerleader, since the news is never bad!

I do like my Frito gig, generally. I do my job, I get left alone. It's just when I am told that my tenure in the company is not as valuable as a recent college graduate, since recent college graduates have more relevant experience because they were members of fraternities. again, what reality does that make sense in? I liked my job better when I had the illusion of opportunity. Opportunity for advancement. Getting off the truck before I was too broken down to do other jobs within the company.

so why "The Rise & Fall of the Frito Empire" - - history is repeating itself. and all I can see is potato chips that have been priced out of the reach of the everyday consumer. Potato chips as a luxury item. When I see customers WANT that bag of Lays so bad, but tell me over and over, "I just can't pay $4 for a bag of potato chips", and Frito comes up with a smaller bag, rather than cut overhead (that would mean people that don't actually touch a bag of chips that makes the profit for the company would need to go) so the price can come down. We are just ripe for another company to come in and take away our marketshare. Take away our lunch and kick sand in our collective faces. But add another manager that "read it in a book" and all will be well. uh huh... in what reality?