Pros
I loved most of the people I worked with in the beginning, when we felt more like a family. And the benefits were great. The office culture was fun and supportive. We were hard working but always took time out to have fun and build camaraderie. The finance team were always honest and transparent. The people team appeared to be on the side of the employees, wanting us to thrive and find fulfillment in our careers. Managers were encouraged to be servant-leaders. The company philosophy was one of long-term investment, not just in stocks but in people and their ideas. And true to the company name, founders and leaders welcomed a diversity of opinions and supported an employee's right to ask tough questions and explore contrarian viewpoints. It felt like such a human company. Even when we made mistakes we acknowledged them and found a way to learn from them and move forward together.
Cons
But it was a Fool's bargain. Something happened during the Covid lock-down, starting in 2020. The CEO started courting secret advice from outside contractors and he altered his normally informal and warm leadership style to be way more authoritarian. For some reason he became obsessed with cloud computing and then generative AI, to the point of making decisions that alienated his own loyal staff and made a mockery of their experience and expertise. In multiple rounds of exit offers they have been purging anyone who doesn't agree with the new company mantra of AI automation, even going so far as to make people sign a "pledge" to commit to the mission of automating as much work as possible. It's extremely dogmatic and dystopian. The CEO is now surrounded by sycophants who are afraid or unwilling to disagree with his strategy or vision, who are happy to conduct layoff meetings with inhuman detachment. And they instilled a CTO who is insulting, micromanaging, and unqualified to lead, who has promised to always advance the CEO's agenda without question. The company is losing its own core values and going down the path toward AI-generated mediocrity and obsolescence. For some reason they expect even their paying members to be excited about the fact that their investing advice is now tainted with AI hallucinations and lacking human insight, which makes zero sense! Honesty and integrity have been replaced with obedience and distrust. Remaining employees are confused and afraid. If the job market wasn't so precarious many more would have taken the exit or otherwise resigned. Honestly, in some ways this company broke my heart. They have turned their backs on what made us such a force for positive change in the financial world. They have lost the ability to look in the mirror and remember what it is to be human.