Now, for a dash of charming chaos. If you see a new business book on a founder's desk, brace yourself – a company-wide transformation is likely imminent, and they don't always make a lot of sense.
Management often feels a bit haphazard, with sudden shifts in direction and strategies that rarely stick. This, coupled with rounds of sudden, unannounced layoffs (which showed little regard for tenure and left teams scrambling), has fostered a significant lack of trust in anything management communicates.
While the atmosphere is friendly, attempts to codify "company values" often fall short, feeling more like corporate mimicry than genuine reflection.
Lastly, for individual contributors, a lack of clear career paths means that after a few years, you can feel stuck doing the same thing over again, despite project variety.