Leadership By Example + A Great Mission
Pros
I've loved every minute of my time at OP2 Labs. What ultimately swayed my decision to join the team was the example of the leadership. They take a top-down approach by modeling the work ethic, character, and dedication that the rest of our team strives for. They care about you as a person and not just a part in a machine. I've been given freedom and autonomy to make decisions, make mistakes, and to learn as we grow together. They listen to my ideas and allow me to challenge plans to become better. I've been given the trust necessary to take creative leaps and to push the brand forward in completely new ways, and it has paid off for everyone. There's a great energy in the team. Although many of us are newer, it feels like we're getting into a rhythm, and I can see the organizations vision getting clearer and clearer. We have high standards for excellence in the work we're doing, and that drives me to push our brand and creative work further. We've approached everything with a mindset to make something that is not only a truly great brand, but a meaningful one that genuinely contributes to bettering people's lives. That sense of purpose has fueled my drive for showing up each day and giving my best. The compensation is great and we were able to negotiate something that is motivating for me. Work/life balance is flexible and they have been great at supporting me when my family was going through a tough time outside of work that led to me being exhausted and stressed. My manager listened with empathy and offered his support and encouragement. Our CEO, Alex is really smart. He's got deep knowledge of the science behind our products as well as how we're going to strategically move forward. He's always got some idea for us trying out new technology or plan. He also cares about investing in educating the team on how we can build financial independence and plans to bring in coaching to help us all learn and grow together. Our VP of Marketing, Sean, is awesome. He's got the skill and experience to take this brand higher, and I appreciate his ability to strike a great balance between being open to new things and being the devil's advocate to challenge ideas (and people) to be the best they can be.
Cons
As I said above, many on our team are new to the company, so our culture is still coming together. It doesn't quite feel like a family across the board, but there is a definite sense of camaraderie forming, which is good. We don't have everything dialed in yet, which is part of the nature of building a rapidly-growing business with a small team. It's a double-edged sword; at times at can feel daunting that we've got a lot of work to do in front of us, but that's also what makes it exciting. I come from an entrepreneurial background, so being able to incorporate that here has been great. We don't have all of the internal systems in place that one would expect from a bigger company, but leadership has been working on it and has been keeping us updated on the process.
