Growth opportunities overshadowed by poor work-life balance - Portfolio Sales and Marketing Manager Cardinal Group Companies Employee Review

I have the authority to shape team culture, improve workflows, and make decisions that directly drive success. There is immense satisfaction in mentoring team members, watching them grow, and helping them achieve their career goals. I get to shift from purely executing tasks to big-picture thinking and problem-solving. The role sharpens invaluable soft skills like negotiation, conflict resolution, and leadership that are highly transferable.

I am ultimately responsible not just for my own output, but for the performance, mistakes, and morale of the entire team. Managers often catch heat from both sides—balancing the expectations of upper executive leadership with the realities and needs of direct reports. Transitioning into management can sometimes create professional distance between you and former peers or team members. You spend more time in meetings, handling administrative tasks, and unblocking others rather than doing the hands-on tactical work you might have originally enjoyed.

At first working at Cardinal was great! There were lots of resources given to you and they were up front about how you can grow into the company, what avenues you needed to take. They truly enjoyed my feedback and I enjoyed their's.

I worked for this company for many years and they have significantly changed as they have grown. It used to feel more like a family versus corporate. And the politics weren't that bad. NOW the politics are super heavy. I was amazing at my position but I made one person angry and ever, since they made it very difficult to do my job. Additionally the culture is great in certain areas but there are plenty of people in corporate that should not have their jobs right now. They do not do their part, they micromanage teams onsite, and they are disrespectful. My manager was delightful but they were given too much on their plate and they had no time to train me. So everything that I was getting in trouble for (all for which originated from the one person I made angry), I never received constructive feedback on how to improve. I am incredibly disappointed in how Cardinal is evolving.