I don't think Fred is intentionally 'destroying' Express.
What he IS doing, is intentionally REORGANIZING Express to fit with the model he has in mind.
From a management prospective, reorganizing a company is much like remodeling a home. One begins with a blueprint of what the finished design will look like. You as wage employees of Express don't really have a clue as to what this 'blueprint' looks like, you are merely laborers in the process.
From the blueprint, the process of controlled demolition takes place. Existing structure has to be pulled out, while still enabling the 'residents' to actually live in the home during the process. Once an area has the old appliances, carpeting, or lighting pulled out, the NEW structure can be put into place. You as the laborers for the remodeling company only know to do what you are told - you aren't given access to see what the finished product will look like on the blueprints - and ESPECIALLY in any 3D rendered computer software.
As the remodeling progresses, small additions to the home are made, new landscaping is installed and as the project nears completion, final painting and touchup work are performed. When all is said and done, the home often bears little resemblance to the original condition...
Here's the twist to this metaphor. The remodeling being done ISN'T to a 'customers' home, it is being done to your workplace. You are expected to continue working during the reorganization, but you aren't being given the full truth as to what the intended finished product will look like. This is due to (in Express' case), the finished 'product' will be so markedly different from the existing product, that the employees would IMMEDIATELY recognize that they are going to be screwed once the intended changes are made. Your employer KNOWS THIS, and thus why the 'remodeling' is being done very slowly and the vast majority of employees have no clue as to what that '3D rendered computer model' actually looks like. Somewhere on the blueprints, are the instructions to "go slow" and to "not show" the prints to anyone outside a small group.
You are seeing the process unfold before your eyes - but you still don't want to believe that anything significant is under way. You pick up information about 'changes', you see how your employer has structured other workplaces they run (Ground...), but you still seem to think that nothing of any real significance will happen to where YOU work. Its all classic denial syndrome. Denial is used as a method of reducing anxiety caused by the change (head in the sand approach...).
Your head is telling you something is happening. You see it all around. Stop the denial, accept what your senses are telling you and do something about it before it is too late.
