Pros
I have some great friendships that have come out of my time at Tory. It was a great experience in the beginning when the approach was personal. I grew a lot as a manager but I would rather lead than manage.
Cons
*Disclaimer- this was not my experience the entire time but it is accurate for the last 2 years. Lack of appreciation for the reality of the expectations on store leadership. Nothing significant ever gets accomplished because everything gets talked to death. I just wanted to develop my team on the floor, give "transformational" customer service and make the company tons of money. I spent my time on the computer, at a desk, on conference calls and meeting with associates one on one like it was Groundhog's Day everyday. It was a micro manager's dream job. The amount of hours I worked because I was constantly losing under appreciated sales leads and support due to demanding, demeaning sales associates was unnecessary. There is also an excess of poor planning and communication from corporate. A lot of talks and emails but things were still very last minute which made appropriate staffing for stock, visual, maitanance, etc. a challenge. Associates can do no wrong and while coaching is encouraged if an associate is offended in any way then it is certainly the leadership's fault. Managers become fearful of coaching employees. I have never seen anyone lose their job (because nothing is ever really addressed) so the worst employees are always victorious due to lack of support and black and white accountability. Culture and values are amazing but if a store has challenging employees then the ones with the connection to the values end of leaving due to the power the challenging employee holds. I did feel that most corporate employees really believed in the values but lacked a sense of reality on what happens at a store level. I can't believe I stuck it out for the amount of time I was there. If it weren't for some relationships and hope that things were going to change after a pep talk or inspiring offsite I would have moved on a lot sooner but I didn't so I learned to manage through the gray.