Innermost Reviews

It was really easy to love the team and potential for the brand. Unfortunately, the CEO/founder made it really difficult to enjoy the job. There was no real vision or strategic forethought for how to move the business forward (or even what the business stood for) so it was very difficult to motivate and excite the team. This also led to a fixation on the tiniest details, changing direction constantly and micro-managing every member on the team despite the managerial hierarchies in place. Everyone on the team is subtly manipulated into not speaking up on their own opinions which led to limited creative discussion and a lot of silent agreement. Whilst I sympathise that your own brand is difficult to release, the lack of trust of team members and commitment to making a change made the job really hard. There was a huge fixation on the immediate “urgency” to change tactics rather than respecting planning, strategy or even the team’s capacity. There is even a lack of respect of the team members. Whenever we had a 1-2-1 or team meeting, as soon as another team member spoke, the founder would be on his phone or laptop scrolling LinkedIn or checking messages. I was told by the founder that he deliberately made a previous employee’s life miserable until they quit and then I witnessed it happen again to another former employee. Very narcissistic behaviour. I really hope it turns a corner as there is so much potential for the brand to be great and I did enjoy most of my day to day job. But I know there are more comfortable places to work where you are valued, respected and trusted fully.