Brown-Forman Reviews

I have never known Jack Daniel's employees to leave. Degreed professionals are walking out of the door every day now. "Management" is the worst - example: males in "management" knew of a situation involving "favors." Of course, they are still there, because B-F's policies do not ever make it down to the Good Ole' Boy Hollow. No one is held accountable for sexual harassment - oh wait, the GIRL was fired first in that case, not her supervisor who was using his position to objectify her. Nice. Women are employed there to meet the B-F recruiter's review goals and check the box, but then these women are left to fend for themselves - no support whatsoever at the professional level. All levels of management - from supervisors to directors - create a culture of male professionals who are overheard "ranking" new hire females, spreading horrible lies and rumors, and partaking in other activities. Occasionally, B-F will investigate just to sweep it under the rug and laugh about it. I have witnessed this. It is demoralizing to finally get someone down there - just to see them joking around and patting the offender on the back - even giving these men documentation of what the female said. Cannot leave fast enough.

- Mediocre Management: Inability to meaningfully grow the company outside the core American whiskey business, specifically JD, despite operating in the spirit industry for more than 100 yrs. Management does not have the diverse experience and knowledge needed to grow a global diversified consumer driven business. Management has relied on one single formula to grow the company while adding significant portfolio concentration risk to sustain business growth into the future. - Uninspiring Marketing: The well of creativity and innovation runs pretty dry; B-F innovation approach is basically to copycat successful products with their brands. These efforts have been quite fruitful when executed with the JD brand but they have failed miserably with all the other brands. Marketing and consumer understanding processes and capabilities are limited at best. -Politics on Steroids: The place is run like a country club. There is little accountability regarding results delivered and experience & skills needed to do the job. It is more about who likes you based on who you have lunch with and whose your friends are. Average or below-average performers can do well and even thrive if well connected (many examples of those). The company is more a little-minds place rather than a right-answer-wins place.