Interana's current problems have to do with a dysfunctional senior team that has helped cultivate a culture away from the values that the company originally stood for: transparency, humility, and respect for one another.
Culture of Hype: senior management constantly emphasizes how well we are doing, and how amazing our product is, how their stellar previous experience shows us that we should pursue direction xxx... tldr, attempts to use hype to motivate people while praying to the gods of Hype that people will forget about all the problems. CEO does not address any real problems and avoids talking about negative cultural surveys.
- A flipside of this is that anyone who disagrees with the hype is often labeled as negative and toxic, and difficult to work with. Fall in line - or you are out. The need for consensus (or the need to appear that we are doing well) is too strong and forces out any competing opinions.
A case of Favoritism: Power is derived from personal connection here - are you close with the founders? Then you can ignore almost everyone else and do whatever you want. The difference between people who "matter" and those who do not is huge. This is true for the senior management team as well as in the lowlands. TLDR: be ready to play in a game of thrones, or at least be ready to find powerful allies that can protect and advocate for you.
Lack of career growth:
- No clear salary/career advancement, unfair/inconsistent evaluation across the board, leading to a lack of individual development and a general feeling of underappreciation.
- The company isn't growing, so there just isn't any room to make massive jumps. (Unless you can pull the right strings).
- You are likely to be hired to fill some role, but unless you take it upon yourself to make it happen (through the political game), you are likely to be stuck in whatever you started doing for a long time.
