Pros
Colleagues across teams are bright, creative, and hardworking.
Many employees genuinely care about doing great work and supporting one another.
Despite challenges, teams have delivered strong results and demonstrated resilience.
Cons
Culture of fear: Employees often feel that disagreeing with leadership could be career-ending. This has created a climate where responses to emails are pre-planned, conversations are held outside of official channels, and openness is replaced with caution.
Unrealistic expectations: External partnerships and the relationship with the board are managed with shifting goals and limited support. Expectations were increased multiple times without discussion, placing teams in untenable positions. Goals are not rooted in historical data and aim only to reward those with equity positions.
Leadership styles:
Contributions frequently go unrecognized, while feedback can be inconsistent, dismissive, or unprofessional.
Initiatives recommended by subject matter experts have been taken over by leadership without collaboration, minimizing the value of internal expertise.
Updates to the board and company have been shared without team input, sometimes including altered numbers without transparency.
Political opinions entered workplace conversations, undermining professionalism.
Boundaries around PTO and personal time are routinely overlooked, with late-night and weekend emails the norm. Prepare to be emailed or messaged at all hours.