The culture to which you will be sold on, WAS real. You were surrounded by great people, with passionate leaders sprinkled in but that's dead. The company will disguise it as "growing pains" but the bottom line is, they're making more money and want to focus on the corporate shift to pocket that money. Every aspect of the changes being made are cutting corners. The "leaders" clearly don't care about you, your mission, or your reason for being there. If it doesn't seem profitable or make their jobs easier, they have no interest in hearing it. They will not invest in your development. CEO,CFO, and directors are all literally walking distance from youin the office and you hardly see them. IF they engage in conversation with you, it's in passing and because they think you can't pick up on the fact that they're being inauthentic. The leaders that did care have all quit due to the shady and downright mean attitudes of other leaders in the company. I've literally watched leaders throw other leadership members under the bus in group meetings with slick comments and flat out unwillingness to collaborate. Anonymous surveys are not anonymous, do what you will with that information. Unfortunately, you cannot speak your mind. "Leaders" are very emotional and only want to dish feedback. I can account for many instances where a teammate provided valuable solution-based feedback that resonated with the team to which leaders either responded with a very "That's just the way it is." attitude, appear to ignore it until they can find a way to take credit for your work (this includes Directors), or look you in your eyes and discredit anything you've ever done because they didn't like what you had to say. The key to "survival" here is to politic. Leaders ironically speak negatively about one another but will sit before teammates and smile as a united front. You are not exempt from this. Hold your cards close, say "yes" to everything, and remain neutral. The only thing your opinion is good for is putting a target on your back. Nobody is your friend, it's a job, and the mistakes you make will be used against you. No matter how much you hear the word "transparency", understand that's a word used to make you let your guard down. If you want to get promoted, work overtime (even though you're salaried), keep your opinions to yourself, master the art of being fake. It's literally that simple.
