So much the better, as far as those executives are concerned.

Let’s say you want to cut costs and you know you have momentum and a long lag where your total incompetence won’t make a difference to business results in the short term, so cut costs by getting rid of the top talent.

Now if they outright just fire every good person, well that looks obviously stupid, but if those good people just… up and quit… well they are hardly to blame, and don’t have to pay out those massive severances. You get your annual bonus which is big, and your big restricted stock payday might be delayed two years, but they know, realistically, they can probably coast a good 3 or 4 years before the game is up. Or if you have a supremely strong ‘business brand’, you might be able to coast indefinitely as the big shots will never believe that brand isn’t good anymore.