It sounds like you are saying there is no reason other than pressure, presumably from a board. Perhaps the board has a reason.
Even with Twitter, which has just been a cavalcade of obviously nonsense moves for months and months, there are still believers in The Plan. I'm actually a little curious why this is; despite presumably having had interactions with poorly-run companies in the course of their daily lives, some people _really_ seem to struggle with the idea that a company might be poorly-run, and seek any other explanation.
'person knows what they are doing' does not equal have a 'well-thought-out master plan'
Individuals also have their own personal goals such as high bonuses or maybe high IPO, where you will sell out and become rich.
And as CEO you have to not only have a plan, but also set up initiatives for people to follow it, which is often harder than it seems. That is why it sometimes seems a company is sabotaging itself. Sometimes there is something deeper going on but sometimes they are sabotaging themselves.
How many times is improvement UX in desired there?
It’s easy to miss these failures internally and assume the teams/management are functional and effective when your app keeps growing… via Reddit’s content and existing market dominance.