Upper management does not trust those that they have hired to make decisions. Most decisions are made based on the whim of the CEO/President/Owner with little regard to subject matter expert input.
Constantly understaffed so the timelines for projects are unreasonable at best.
There's no overall business plan that is thought out and followed on a quarterly or even yearly basis.
Your job description and title will change several times a year without any notice and without any opportunity to provide feedback.
Lots of money wasted on every snake oil salesman that happens to talk to the owner.
Lots of back-stabbing amongst mid-management. You don't know who to trust, especially with the HR department.