Pros
A lot of harsh rhetoric has been written about Sandel on this forum, and a lot of it was true. The current ranking and reviews are not without merit.
I would like to provide a few thoughts and insights about what happened in the past and how we are currently changing things at Sandel.
The prior leadership style was like building the airplane while flying it, in the dark, with the tail on fire, and no parachute. While the prior management style was autocratic and siloed, my management philosophy is to provide clear concise goals and empower individuals to do the best job they can do.
In the past there were unrealistic goals and the demands placed on employees that left them disillusioned and burned out. I can promise the days of chaos driven “fire-drills” to meet faux deadlines are over. Teamwork, schedule, communication, transparency and openness is the new cultural environment here at Sandel.
The “Kool-Aid” has been relegated to the kitchen and I have redefined all executive roles to give each VP more autonomy to make decisions that are appropriate and supporting of their respective teams.
Cons
We can’t change the past, but we can learn from it. Although we still have challenges ahead, we are enthusiastic about the future and our people.