Pros
- Disconnected top-down decision making is on a steep decline. Pragmatic solutions with real impact for our clients are on the rise. - Transparency has gone way up. Company townhalls no longer have makeup on. It's a breath of fresh air to see a not fully choreographed LT in action. (Paul's still reading from a script though. Would love to see him free style.) - Cross-functional teams are starting to come together -- it's really nice when we reach across reporting lines. (Room for improvement though; see more in cons.) - GLG has done right by the employees during COVID. This will pay off in retention post-COVID. - Emphasis on the people proposition is working. (Room for improvement though; see more in cons.) - We don't exclusively hire from flashy ivy league degrees but man, we have really smart people that care about the work product.
Cons
- 2019 was rough. Many decisions were made at the top, disconnected from the frontlines, especially the tech investments. - We don't have a single culture but rather micro cultures by team / function. A common theme in all the micro cultures though is not giving enough benefit of the doubt to someone from another team. - People proposition is working but still feels very HR-driven. There is room for the actual managers (starting from GMs / middle layers of management) to truly take the driving seat in nurturing talent and positive culture. - We probably outgrew our systems 4-5 years ago but somehow we're still running with it. Tech investments continue to prioritize revenue growth (understandable) but at some point, the old dog won't learn new tricks anymore. We'll need a new dog.