She watched Victoria speak. She didn't unfold her arms, but she watched, "I've spent the past 11 weeks reading a report about this company." Victoria continued, "A report that showed me in documented dated specific detail what this culture has been doing to people to many of you over the past several years. And I'm not going to stand here and describe it in abstract language about systems and structures because the report isn't about systems and structures. It's about people."
She stopped. It's about Grace. It's about Robert. It's about Sandra and James and 18 others whose names are in that report and whose experiences in this building were shaped by a culture that I led and failed to examine. Sandra uncrossed her arms.
Victoria kept going. I am not going to tell you that this was all a mistake that nobody intended. She said, "Intentions matter. They also don't account for everything. What matters alongside intention is outcome.
And the outcomes this company produced for a significant number of its people were not acceptable. They were not what this company claims to stand for. And they were not. I now understand what many of you believed you were coming here to be part of. She looked out at the auditorium.
"I'm sorry," she said. And then she said it differently. Not to the room in aggregate, but to specific people, to the names she'd already mentioned. Looking at sections of the room as she said, each one making the apology particular rather than general. Grace, Robert, Sandra, James.
She paused between each name. I am sorry for what this company cost you. I am sorry that the potential you brought here was not met with the environment it deserved, and I am sorry that I led the organization that failed you without ever fully understanding that it was doing so. The auditorium held very still. Derek was watching the stage and thinking about a conversation he'd had with Caleb on day three, standing at Caleb's desk, asking, "How did you end up here?"
With the casual arrogance of someone who believed his ability to assess people in 30 seconds was a professional skill. He thought about what Caleb had said. Maybe for some people, two words. He hadn't understood them at the time. He understood them now.
On the stage, Victoria continued, "Starting today, this company is beginning a different process. Not a program, not an initiative, a process of examining how we actually function, how people are hired, how they're evaluated, how decisions about advancement are made, who makes those decisions, and what criteria they use. That process is going to take time and it is going to be uncomfortable and it is going to require honesty from all of us about things that are hard to be honest about. She held the page of notes at her side still not looking at it. I am asking you to be part of that she said not as an audience for a company announcement as participants in something that either becomes real because enough people in this building make it real or doesn't become real at all.