cPanel is the perfect example of a software company with good intentions and expectations of becoming a cultural pioneer falling completely flat because of lack of strategy and poor leadership. They are 100% unable to effectively compete in the tech market - this has nothing to do with being based in Houston, but rather how executives choose to operate the business.
Most executives were chosen based on their technical skills rather than their strong leadership and strategy skills, so it isn't a surprise the result is an extremely reactionary, finger pointing, command and control environment. cPanel definitely falls in the "Amber" category of Laloux's model. Some executives not only utilize horrible practices such as gaslighting, destructive conditioning, nepotism (both friends and family) projection, covert threats, patronizing, sexual harassment, condescension, and smear campaigns - but they encourage their direct reports to use them as well! The best way most people at the company have learned to navigate this behavior is to "just keep your head down" or suck up to the boss. HR is not present as an effective resource to protect employees, rather they spend more time helping (protecting) management. Blame or fault of the current state can't only be placed on these executives. Their ugly management practices have given them praise and promotions so why would they believe they need to become better leaders? Try to give constructive feedback to them and you are essentially blacklisted. They rule with their egos. There is a very strong "I'm smart enough to do anyone's job, so all of you are beneath me" sentiment. Additionally, there is such a lack of transparency or honesty within leadership and the average employee can do little to improve their situation. An example of this is HR has become famous for sending out "anonymous" surveys to employees to gain feedback when it is quite obvious the system is not anonymous. Employees are treated like dumb children to be manipulated instead of the intelligent and capable adults they are. Goals are nonexistent because real goals the company can rally around would call for a level of transparency of information leadership is not comfortable with.
Strategically cPanel does not understand how they fit into the current market and how they can improve their market share. Product Management's strategy for improving cPanel is to constantly dogfood it, so they only ever see a very specific piece of their customer base. This is not a company setting themselves up to be around for much longer.
If you are female, this company is not a friendly place for you. Lip service has been paid lately to make cPanel more female friendly - this has taken the form of going to a few "women in tech" conferences and attempting to recruit women to join, but there is no strategy in actually making cPanel a better place for women to work. Maternity leave is an ignored concept. Mansplaining will happen to you all day long. And, yes - you will make CONSIDERABLY less than your male peers. Especially those that are less qualified than you. If cPanel actually cared about promoting women in tech, they would ask themselves harder questions, fire employees that don't embody core values, pull real data behind their discriminatory pay practices, and make it fully transparent.
