Why every company wants to ‘stay nimble’

Being laid off is bad enough. Falling victim to “strategic realignment” or “the growth playbook”? That’s just adding insult to injury.

Last week, Amazon shared a memo sent to staff as the company implemented mass layoffs. The post detailed the overall reduction in its corporate workforce of 14,000 roles (about 4% of its white-collar workforce).

While news of the layoffs attracted media attention, the focus across social media wasn’t so much on the contents of the memo as the headline itself: “Staying nimble and continuing to strengthen our organizations.”

“Corporate buzzword masterclass,” Morning Brew wrote in a now-viral post on X. “You weren’t fired, you were part of our ongoing nimblization initiative,” one X user responded.

It’s the type of corporate-speak that we’ve come to expect