> If you want to justify your position, I would suggest highlighting the positive changes you _did_ make, rather than the positive changes you _intended_ to make.
Imagine where the world would be if bell labs didn't invest all that money into positive changes that people _intended_ to make.
The comment you replied to did sound callous given the fact that the author probably just got laid off.
Specifically on your response: while planning specific changes is good and so is attempting to solve hard problems, during mass layoffs the teams with few accomplishments are usually hit first. Ambitious plans seldom help. Mass layoffs are rare, but this is something one should keep in mind. My 2c.
Specifically on Bell Labs, new employees until the 1990s were told "you have a job for life" (paid by the AT&T's monopoly generating huge cash flows). But when the AT&T became less profitable and mass layoffs did start, as far as I know they followed the same pattern.
Imagine where the world would be if bell labs didn't invest all that money into positive changes that people _intended_ to make.