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- Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth gave a speech on Tuesday emphasizing stricter military standards.
- He encouraged those not on board with the changes, including updates to fitness and grooming standards, to resign.
- Some of the speech’s themes echoed recent hardcore stances of corporate leaders, including AT&T CEO John Stankey.
Corporate America and the military are converging around the same tough cultural playbook — and telling reports to get in line.
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth addressed hundreds of generals and admirals Tuesday morning, saying that the country’s armed forces will “restore a ruthless, dispassionate, and common-sense application of standards.” That includes changing expectations about physical fitness and grooming. Anyone not on board, he added, “should do the honorable thing and resign.”
If this sounds familiar, perhaps it’s because AT&T CEO John Stankey shared a similar sentiment in a memo to employees in August, saying the telecommunications company would be “moving away from an orientation on hierarchy and familial cultural norms and towards a more externally focused and competitive market-based culture.” Stankey said those who don’t want to comply ought to leave.
Hegseth and Stankey’s remarks reflect a changing workplace dynamic. Many employers are now prioritizing performance metrics over tenure and showing less tolerance for dissent. They’re also enforcing stricter policies around attendance, work hours, and — at least in the case of the military — physical appearance.
Hegseth said in his speech that the Department of Defense, or what the Trump administration is now calling the Department of War, will no longer tolerate overweight troops or beards. What’s more, how the military defines terms such as toxic leadership, bullying, and hazing may need overhauling, Hegseth added.
“The definition of toxic has been turned upside down, and we’re correcting that,” he said. “Setting, achieving, and maintaining high standards is what you all do. And if that makes me toxic, then so be it.”
Since he became President Donald Trump’s secretary of defense, Hegseth has focused on defining troops solely as warfighters. In Tuesday’s address, the emphasis was on standards by which to evaluate them against that definition, such as physical-training regularity, fitness, and adherence to regulations. He told the officers in the crowd that if that is “making your heart sink,” they could leave.
A shifting pendulum
The military is famous for long-standing values not usually seen in the corporate world, like brotherhood and belonging. Hegseth’s comments put less weight on these values and emphasized performance metrics, with a zero-tolerance approach to disagreement.
Driving the shift in tone is the souring of the job market, Tom Gimbel, founder of staffing firm LaSalle Network, told Business Insider. There are more job seekers than job openings in the US, which means employers have the upper hand.
“When unemployment was still low, CEOs were afraid of losing people, and so they couldn’t say what they really wanted to say,” said Gimbel.
At the same time, corporate workers were taking advantage of the remote and flexible scheduling opportunities born out of the pandemic, he added. They began focusing more on their careers and personal lives, and became less deferential to their employers’ needs.
“You had employees saying, whether it was literally or figuratively, ‘I’m going to do what’s best for me,'” Gimbel said.
That’s no longer the case. These days, CEOs are saying “you’ve got to go by our rules because you can’t leave,” he said. “Where are you going to go?”
Leaning into a hardcore culture
One sign of employers flexing their upper hand is the increasing number of companies cracking down on remote work. Some companies, such as Amazon and Dell, are requiring workers to return to the office five days a week, while others are gradually increasing the number of days staff need to come in.
Leaders are pressuring workers to conform because they believe a more hardcore culture will strengthen their organizations, said Ian McCulloh, a professor at Johns Hopkins University who previously served for 20 years in the US Army.
“It is a recognition that without collaboration, teamwork, and interpersonal relationships, organizations are less competitive,” McCulloh said. “Leaders are taking advantage of the current economic and political environment to pivot back toward an environment that worked better.”
