World Economic Forum reviews

Middle management here is a nightmare. Most have been around for ages but have zero actual skills- they're just waiting to retire, so they play dirty politics to survive. They don't work; they just collect our work, dress it up, and kiss up to senior leadership. They also block everything. They filter what goes up to look like heroes, but they hide key info from us so we can't advance. And they won't recruit or train anyone new because they're scared of being outshined. On top of that, many are bullies. They harass their teams to assert control, and HR just lets it happen. No intervention, no solutions- just permission for toxic people to keep being toxic.

Honestly, it's an events company with a fancy logo. A lot of the big "initiatives" are just whatever the top brass is personally into that quarter. At one point the Founder was obsessed with the metaverse, so we threw money at that. Then suddenly it was space, and everyone had to scramble to find "synergies" with the space team—like we're going to out-innovate NASA. A lot of projects exist because someone high up thinks they're cool, not because they make strategic sense. They talk a lot about "service" and "hospitality" as core values. What that really means is: you're there to serve them and their VIP guests. You'll spend a shocking amount of time organizing lunch events, receptions, and private dinners for leadership. It feels less like meaningful work and more like we're event planners for the C-suite. "Strategic engagement" with stakeholders? Not really. Your main job is to call or email people and ask if they want to come to Davos or some other events. That's the relationship. There's not much depth beyond that. At the end of the day, what they really need is warm bodies to handle logistics and make sure everything runs smoothly. If you're looking to do real policy work or strategic thinking, this probably isn't the place.