Breakthrough Institute Reviews

I would seriously not recommend working here as full-time staff if you are a young women of color. If you do consider it, think about the following: A) How senior are you, how far along are you in your career? (how much *clout* do you have) B) Can you tolerate idiosyncratic (and at times problematic) individuals in management? Can you stand up for yourself in a professional setting? C) Do you have a defined profile in a particular area of climate policy/research? Some body of work published already? D) How comfortable are you with BTI's history and positions? Research *thoroughly* and ask q's during interview E) Have you checked the Twitter accounts of those who work there (especially that of leadership)? F) Will your manager be a POC or a woman or someone that will vouch for you and support you? Some context: The organization hired a DEIJ consultant after some staff members expressed feeling a bit upset by the organization's statement (it was a bit late and took an odd lens on the issue) in response to George Floyd's death. While a few former colleagues are committed to working with the DEIJ consultant to improve the organization, progress is painfully slow as policies/solutions are only implemented after an *incident* occurs. I was tokenized by a senior staff member, some senior staff (read: white/male) tend to *take up space* in the room, had to tolerate sometimes insensitive writing or in person interactions by staff members (showing some ignorance towards racial/DEIJ related issues), etc. I often felt like I was walking on egg shells; the organization values debate, but it often seems like the goal of debate (read: conflict) is for one side to *win*. Lack of transparency/clarity on how to move up within the organization. Elements of bro culture.Teams can often feel siloed for a small organization. Hiring decisions seemed haphazard (hiring people the organization might not actually need at times to only let them go later).

The actual science, statistics, analysis, and research varies depending on who's leading the program. Watch out for the antagonism, contrarianism, pragmatism, bro culture, and all its armchair-expert fans who think they are objective/reasonable/rational/serious/apolitical/neutral/moderate and people who think being criticized from both sides is the right place to be (when criticism from both or all sides could also mean that you're really wrong)