I think we are now seeing the fruits of decades of cronyism and...

I think we are now seeing the fruits of decades of cronyism and jobs for the boys.
To be fair, most BSL employees are good and hard working, but there has always been that undertow, and most employees have seen it and felt it.

For example, I personally know an ex employee of Bluescope Steel. whose wife, mother in law, father in law, brother, brother in law, sister in law and her husband were also employees there.
Now I ask you, what are the odds that this happy family had all the best people for those positions?
Bear in mind that this was not the family corner store, but an ASX200 multinational organisation.

In the same profit centre the ex’ general manager’s son took up employment and moved up extremely rapidly through the ranks, past more experienced and better qualified individuals, to a position of manager despite his obvious lack of business and people skills.

Time and time again, managers promoted mates over and above talented individuals, especially if those individuals dared to speak up against policies systems or methods. Anyone who suggested that a policy may not be in the best interests of the company was tagged “a non team player” and was ignored in the promotion stakes.

Consequently, person after person at the middle and higher management levels, left Bluescope for companies that rewarded and promoted on merit rather than mateship.

How many competent, skilled people missed out because of the endemic cronyism in the company.?
More importantly, how many skilled people did BSL miss out on?
The examples I refer to obviously don't reach the board and the CEO level, but one can extrapolate the climate uptown from the climate in the burbs.

Little wonder then, that when the going got tough, the mates club found it impossible to get out of cruise control and make the sort of decisions that were needed to avert the train wreck we now see.

Why my continued interest in this company, despite the fact that I’m not a stakeholder?

Because I have many close friends who are shareholders, and just as many who are still employed there, and I share their anger and their grief.