HQ and Management in Minnesota; legacy middle management is instilled for life, and has led to a culture of 'my way or the highway' and unfortunately those with decision-making authority are not the brightest or best; a culture of mediocrity at best; Within Investment Banking, the Associates are being squeezed as some MDs are quite lazy and do minimal work; because of the brain drain to Silicon Valley startups, analysts often lack the minimum skills needed to churn out the quality work for the deal teams....leaving the few qualified Associates to be completely overworked. A few women bankers which is refreshing but still very much an old boys network and the women are cut out of meetings at times, but they somehow deal with it with grace. The admin and ops team are skeletal, and the majority are poor quality (high school education with no higher degree; many with no prior IB or financial services experience). The rigid stalwart management allows virtually no autonomy to the talented few. Rebranding is quite lofty ("Power of Partnership", "Entrepreneurial", etc.) as the old foundation remains rigid, dusty, lackluster. Compensation and Benefits are poor.
