Brooks management suffers from too big to fail syndrome. No matter what, nothing bad will happen to them because they are owned by Berkshire Hathaway and BH is there to bail them out. It has produced an ineffective management team that feels entitled and is not held accountable. The business is suffering.
RIP fun quirky Brooks because Brooks has sold out. It isn’t about people, passion and product; it’s about money. The focus is on becoming a billion dollar brand. That’s why all the zero-to-heroes have been brought in; to lead them to the billion dollar Promised Land. The zero-to-heroes go around Brooks spouting buzz words while riding on the shoulders of the individual contributors. Management is impressed by their buzz words, but don’t square it up to see if the “buzz” is beneficial.
A big problem is that Brooks management is out of touch. When key people started leaving management buried their heads in the sand and listened to the “spin” verses finding out why they left. For example, when I left, HR did not contact me. No call, no exit interview…nothing. When long term employees start leaving it is a problem.
Brooks was a good company to work for. That is all gone. They drank their own kool-aid. Now it’s an ivory tower for a shrinking company with management that self-promotes and builds their career on buzz words until someone catches on; and then they are off to the next job leaving a mess in their wake.