The top-down culture is built on fear, and shame. The CEO has way too much pride. His pride blinds him from the real problems present among his own staff. He comes up with solutions that meets no resistance because of a “yes man” culture built from his autocratic rule. HR policies are rolled out overnight in response to any crisis by our HR personnel (yes, singular. we only have one person doing HR. this speaks volumes about the CEO’s priorities) without much thought. The CEO prides himself in his intellect. He sees himself as equal to many big names out there . He might have graduated from a prestigious school, but he is without heart and without compassion. He is insecure, and puts great effort into developing a persona that is completely different from his true self; he pretends to be someone who is generous, compassionate, open-minded, and flexible. These could be traits that he wants to possess, but probably never will. Do not be fooled during your interviews. (Side info: we get most people from places where the government gives subsidies to minimise salary pay out. We also churn batches of interns for the cheap labour interns provide.) Due to his egocentric nature, the CEO is easily manipulated by a handful of his staff who know how to sing praises to him. The respectable people who know their stuff well often do not agree with his policies. But there is no room for anyone to speak up and truly be heard. Those who started off caring, eventually give up trying speak out. They fear that speaking out against the CEO’s ideas will put a target on their backs. No one wants to be the one he picks on for the season. Incompetent workers who are experts in agreeing with his ideas are quickly promoted, and those who are truly competent but have been afraid to speak up often end up demoralised. The CEO motivates his staff to do better by shaming and making an example of them of his blacklisted workers in front of others in large meetings. He makes everything a competition among co-workers. Teamwork is never truly teamwork in Ryde because the CEO always looks out for ONE person to give the credit to. This creates a really toxic culture, not a truly collaborative one. 3 words to describe the CEO: Cunning, Proud, Dishonest Lastly, the CEO does not understand loyalty and respect. In his eyes, loyalty is blind slavery. He does not understand that loyalty and respect should be earned, and it is often mutual. He does not have our loyalty, nor does he have our respect.
