"The Beatings Will Continue Until Morale Improves" - Managing Director Hunt Institute Employee Review

My short-lived experience at THI was a study in the book, “The Five Dysfunctions of Leadership.” There were red flags during the first interview when the CEO, Javaid, did most of the talking, and shared openly that there were culture issues and dysfunction org-wide. He asserted that he needed a Managing Director who could be loyal like one of his current employees (who was leaving the company). At this point, he referred to her as his “loyal dog.”. Three times, he said he needed another “dog” like her who could be loyal and carry his message. I was so offended and startled by his language that I couldn’t believe my ears! I took this as a really bad sign and withdrew my name from consideration. Javaid called me immediately to say he was so impressed by me and really wished I hadn’t withdrawn. I appreciated his phone call and the nice things he said about me so I decided to give him a second chance and the benefit of the doubt. Throughout the interview process, I shared my values around leadership – creating psychological safety among team members so that true collaboration can occur (a space where diverse opinions are welcome and respectfully challenging the status quo is encouraged); trust as the foundation for great teamwork; and the principles of servant leadership. The senior leadership seemed aligned with those values. I thought I was being hired to bring that kind of mindset to the workplace to help solve the dysfunction and create a more productive, high-performing staff. I was excited about the opportunity to make a difference. During my first week, the dysfunction at THI was on full display. As a former leadership coach and consultant with decades of professional experience, I was incredibly alarmed by the negativity and toxic comments from senior leadership. Multiple people quit, people were getting fired and it was a literal dumpster fire. In my 23 years of experience in the workforce, I’ve never seen anything like it. I saw the CEO multitasking and being distracted during important leadership meetings and dialing in remotely when no one else was allowed to work from home. I think this is hypocritical. They force people to take sick time for days when they need to work from home (for a sick child or when they might be contagious because of a sick spouse). I saw staff keeping their heads down and trying to stay out of the line of fire. I heard people state that there was a lack of safety in the office to speak up. Overall, I witnessed a draconian environment not conducive to high-performing teams. It was obvious there were serious trust issues. The meme comes to mind: “The beatings will continue until morale improves.” I continued to assert that I was optimistic we could shift things and create a better culture. I stated multiple times that “The Hunt Way” of providing exceptional service to external stakeholders should also be a guiding force internally where staff were treated with the same intention. I started my job with the mindset to help create a high-performing culture, but they wanted a policy-enforcer, not a leader and I refused to violate my integrity and values as a leader. I didn’t last long at THI and wouldn’t recommend working here.