Leaders at every level are insecure and spineless due to the "gotcha" toxic culture set at the top. They quickly marginalize perceived threats and suppress ideas that run counter to their own to maintain the status quo. Senior leaders are incapable (or unwilling) to connect on a human level due their distrust of others, personal egos, insecurities, jadedness, and/or lack of experience leading at a comparable level within another organization. Result is no inspired leadership .. no camaraderie .. and no collective accomplishments to celebrate.
Sincerity, genuine empathy, and care of employees is not practiced nor is it valued. HR is non-existent (zero independent contribution) as they are 100% deferential to senior leaders who should not weigh in on so many people decisions as they are not omnipresent. Such decisions should be made by entrusted direct supervisors with input from every person an employee works with, but they are not. HR has the worst tact in engaging individual employees as their only objective is to endear themselves to the senior leaders they work for. They don’t even ask the thousands of employees who have left for feedback! It makes for a miserable place to work when there is no system in place to evaluate based on merit .. solid employees are laid off (without warning) while marginal obedient employees remain and leaders are none the wiser. Board is passive and weak. No diversity .. to be clear, no black people in any position above entry level. Strategy is like looking through a kaleidoscope (great if you’re on LSD, not so great if you're not). Little to no community involvement/presence in Miami/HQ aside from the annual corporate run.
Maniacal acquirer. They will buy a company only to leave them alone for years, make employees feel inferior by feigning interest in what they do, cut costs, starve them for capital, and then demand growth. Sellers are promised investment and then pushed aside post-sale as their former company languishes/atrophies. I’ve observed leaders use acquired companies as a WeWork space to hold meetings without acknowledging any of the employees there. For all aside from execs, it’s an exhausting 9-5 grind as they are a cog in the wheel. Zero examples of anyone establishing a career. Bully culture fosters back-stabbing and an all-for-one mentality that obliterates morale.
I’ve witnessed leaders threaten their aged 50+ employees by telling them they can replace them with younger, less costly recent college graduates. Countless times I have witnessed while in their presence, senior leaders speak horribly about employees behind their back on a conference call. No one ever feels pride that they are included but rather shame that they had to bear witness.
