A few years ago, I was working for a highly reputable $10B+ company in Chicagoland. I enjoyed my work, had a great relationship with my Director. Then all of a sudden there was a mass changing of the guards. Over the next two years I went thru 4 different Directors, 50% of our team quit or left the company, and it was largely due to the poor leadership of the newly anointed VP of Product Management.
It was strange to me, seeing how everyone acted under his leadership. This person was hailed by some as extremely intelligent...yet, he would consistently belittle people at townhall meetings. He had difficulty explaining his thoughts to the team. He showed up at the biggest yearly show disinterested, wearing khaki shorts and a Hawaiian shirt. No one could see his intelligent mind...and speculation was that the real reason for his rise was solely from his close relationship to the CEO.
Even stranger, was how the people at work walked on eggshells around him. Some became "yes" men/women, and I often felt like the department was turning into a bunch of Corporate Robots.
So "Corporate Robots" was birthed from this experience...this character would manifest himself in several new tracks, such as "Cutbacks" and "Reorg" on the new album.
Moral of the story - the Corporate World can have it's ups and down...I met a lot of great people in this environment. But all it takes is one bad apple in a position of power, and the apple cart can get turned upside down in a hurry.