Toxic politics. Sycophant behavior. - Brand Associate Capital One Employee Review

Blatant sycophant behavior would take place in front of my manager and director during stand-ups. Team members who were on the more genuine side would be quite uncomfortable. Meanwhile, the leaders would either turn their head, or enable them if they felt it was coming from an Associate who was savvy politically or had rising popularity within the department. (What was advantageous for the career climb was more important than substance.) If you're mainly looking to apply yourself creatively or strategically you'll be disappointed. At times, I found that my manager (who was quite patronizing despite demonstrating limited ability) struggled to understand high-level brand concepts. It seemed like most of the department was designed not to build that unconventional 'What's in your Wallet' advertising you see in mass media (that's done by external ad agencies, btw)—but instead, are there simply to maintain the corporate brand's status quo. As a result, there's a lot of hive mind. And deviation from that poses the risk of coming off as threatening to management, who's mind is too far gone from the concept of any sort of individual thinking or initiative. Along with the overabundance of corporate careerists, Stack Ranking makes Capital One not about skillsets, genuine competency or overall expertise. But if you can play politics, and how much politics you're willing to play—which if you're not a corporate bot, is morally and spiritually draining. Best story of all, while good people get fired, there was a Higher Level Marketing Director who got his team kicked out of a bar after the holiday party, then ordered a party limousine with his Capital One company credit card. But fear not, he wasn't fired. No. They kept him on to carry on as his usual arrogant self, while his cronies propped him up as some sort of leadership savant during team calls. That is Capital One Careers in a microcosm.