My last review was titled "5 years in..." I'm at 5.5 years now, and have given my notice of resignation. If you are considering Gore as a career choice, please read this review first; I have thoroughly diagnosed this company throughout my tenure; from starting after school chugging the kool-aid to my current state of distaste. I will echo, but not repeat, everything else already said on here like low pay, bad perks (no cafeteria or gym), etc. Instead, I’m going to try to give tangible examples of specific CONS that exemplify what everyone else on here has said to try to tie it all together for you. WARNING: LONG.
Well, so where to begin on this section…… I've critiqued leadership enough in past reviews, fault and inadequacies are clear, Terri Kelly herself admitted the exact item I said in her recent broadcasts about our abhorrent annual (employee satisfaction) survey: clarity. This leadership deficiency falls right into the last thing I said in the PROS section; Gore (and its leadership) doesn't know HOW to improve. Speaking of being clear, let me be; this inadequacy at Gore is a CAPABILITY problem. Lack of capability of the Enterprise and Divisional Leadership to-date to know the "how." I still stand by the fact that they should all be fired. Yesterday.
Gore, these last two decades, can really be characterized by bad business decisions. Great smart people (hence the products), but terrible leadership in all departments that results in zero organizational strength to adequately grow and develop talent, execute quickly and correctly on decisions that should really be straight forward, and maneuver precisely in the context of everyone/thing else in the world (competitors, policies/law, and governments). Here is what I mean, using the specific items I mentioned above as a starting point.
On the “outward image” efforts – “Cool” is about it, they fail to really manifest a credo or affect results (via profits). Where we need this effort is in Fabrics to actually drive profit, not in Medical. Wrong investment, wrong time, wrong place. This factoid sums up Gore. We needed to drive social media campaigns, digital marketing, and a grassroots cult following (how millennials decide what to buy) for our Gore-Tex branded clothing. The new burning man swag video clips in Fabrics that they’re coming out with is total trash, talk about being behind the times and out of touch. None of those things are even on the radar, and mastery of this type of marketing needed to happen starting 20 years ago.
On the financial improvement mentioned - Medical was blindsided by the market/world 3.5 of these last 5 years, I am not optimistic that Gore all of a sudden has become pro’s at hedging against currency values, at increasing sales volumes in mature markets, at getting product to market 50% faster, at defending the litigious nature of this field, and at playing the game (politics) on both a national and global arena (read: lobbying, entering China, tax havening, outsourcing to low cost labor countries, etc.). This improvement is as happenstance as the last improvement (when forecasts showed we were going to tank), and don't even get me started on Gore's forecasting ability.
Finally, on the re-organization overhaul (again) in Medical– Lets say that this re-org. is meant to address everything mentioned commonly on here by everyone. Why don’t any, and I mean ANY, of our leaders know what their job is? Seriously go ask any of them, they will readily admit they are trying to figure out their job. How can this possibly result in making faster and better decisions, growing & developing talent, and improving speed to execution on ideas/products when NOBODY KNOWS WHO DOES WHAT. This is a shocking red flag, right at the outset no less, to the efficacy of this re-org. A organization structure’s purpose is, at foremost, meant to achieve clarity for all aspects of the business (decision making, the checkbook, hire/fire, etc.). Gore cannot possibly be decisive, agile, precise, and most of all, achieve clarity (I sound like a broken record) for everyone when all of leadership does not know these things themselves. And no, it’s not just a simple matter of time, this is exactly how the last 4 (again, failed) re-orgs started; confused nebula of swirling people that waste time discussing deciding how to decide, all while waxing philosophical about the culture and how this all fits into this (as if it matters at this point). All the other re-orgs were scrapped after a year, and they’ll scrap this one too. This company is the physically manifesting grasping at straws, and have been for 5+ years. These leaders in the new org hierarchy (yes, I said it) are also still the exact same leaders as the last 4 (failed) re-orgs these last 5+ years. Accountability much? The last 5 years has shown abundantly clear that the problem is leadership, and the leadership needs to change, not the structure.
For prospective employees evaluating Gore - the body of data against Gore is substantial: look at the Glassdoor rating trends, look at the Fortune Best Places to Work list metrics (not just rank, which dropped dramatically this year, but actually compare where our employees rate elements of Gore compared to other companies; try to find one lower), finally look at reviews on here. I’m sorry if you were excited about this opportunity, but please trust me when I say it is for the better that you have read this long write-up, better for your own career, your family (less future moves when you inevitably leave), and your sanity.
