Interesting work and clients but autocratic management - Anonymous employee The Silk Initiative Employee Review

Over a few short years, The Silk Initiative has grown from a one-person local operation to a global powerhouse influencing brand strategies for Fortune 100 companies. That tremendous growth is because people that work at TSI are passionate about what they do. It also means this is a great place to learn and grow from globally-recognized thought leaders in food and beverage, brand consulting, and marketing. Other pros of working here: -A multi-cultural and diverse team. As a member of the LGBT community, I'm especially proud of TSI's track record at employing people from marginalized groups. Gay, straight, Asian, western, conservative, liberal doesn't matter here. It's all about what you bring to the table. -Exposure to a massive business and consular community. TSI is well regarded in the business community, with chambers of commerce, consulates/embassies/trade offices, and even high levels of Australian and American governments. If you do well here, dropping TSI on a CV is guaranteed to get your foot in the door. -Loyal clients that are engaged and collaborative. Clients tend to stick with TSI because they know the quality of the work they are getting. That means you get to work with clients that are more like partners than horrible dictators. You also get exposure to different businesses, fast tracking learning. -Work hard/play hard mentality. As a food and bev consultancy, there's always a trip to the latest restaurant or bar, whether that's in Shanghai or somewhere else in Asia. The office environment is pretty chill too: downtown lanehouse, bring your pet to work; cool murals on the office walls. -Focus on personal branding and professional growth. TSI has a monthly speaker's series that brings in some big hitters in the business world to talk to employees. The marketing team also focuses on individual branding, which is great for future job opportunities. I'm really surprised by some of the negative reviews. Maybe people just didn't quite get what TSI was doing...I'm not sure. Shanghai's full of places where people just show up and get a pay check. This isn't one of them. Really, though, who wants to work in a boring place like that?!?

Startups, especially ones with aggressive ambitions, aren't for everyone. The people that don't make it at TSI are usually lazy and looking for a conventional 9-5. They also tend to be the type that wants everything handed to them instead of being proactive, thinking creatively, and managing their own futures. It's sad to see that when a company's standards are high, people bad mouth them and their leadership because they weren't able to hack it.

Management is entirely brilliant, extremely intuitive, very motivated, and extremely experienced in the realm of marketing research and business consulting. The projects are very high-level, entirely fascinating, and will enhance any employee or contractor's skillsets and career opportunities.

Because management is so driven to overperform, they require that employees perform to a degree many people are unable, or unwilling, to match.