well, and let's be honest - most CEOs and boards get the same advice from the same advisors and peers. and the advice since Elon took over Twitter (not that I can say he "started it" but it was around that time I started hearing C-suites say he was right to let everyone go) has been to implement more draconic policies at your software companies.
that interest rates have been higher and liquidity in general has been tight created a perfect storm of bias that these policies are working or could be beneficial. in better times, a company with good funding and a healthy customer base would come through and eat everyone's lunch if their competitors were treating their devs like that. but because of the temporary complete collapse in competition as we've known it, especially amongst startups, this has gone on far longer than it typically would.
it'll get better soon but we've lost an entire generation of technical leadership now (due to burnout and other factors) so it'll be a slow and turbulent recovery.