Aside the points addressed above, Mike is an impulsive leader and his company is built on personal connections, not credibility or integrity (for example, he's recently brought his wife Marcela on board). His impulsive nature in particular creates a great amount of tension between himself and the VPs and SVPs he hires. He has a short attention span. Oftentimes, he is unaware of project timelines and jumps into promises, expecting everyone else to just take it in and deal with sporadic promises to clients. This is why Project Managers prefer to work independently of him.
Another unfortunate truth is that the culture is built on complaining. Employees bond by discussing the shortcomings of leadership, the client work, and their personal lives. Also, given that Berland is a silo within a corporate PR company, employees complain about the inability of their PR colleagues to understand the role and relevance of research in their work.
Some of these issues will be resolved, but a great amount of the problems are systemic. Despite all this, Berland will grow financially, but it is unlikely to be a place where the majority of employees will thrive.
