Delivering extraordinary customer care and developing future leaders.
Pros
American Express is one of the most admired companies in the world. Upon learning of my position at American Express, the reaction of friends and family has always been, "Wow! That's a great company! Congratulations!" Beyond the prestige, American Express offers its employers countless of opportunities to be a part of the process to deliver extraordinary service to its customers as well as make a positive impact to its shareholders. The leadership development for myself and for my peers goes beyond any expectation I had coming out of college. I have received intimate learning sessions on proven leadership tactics, such as MBTI, Crucial Conversations, and Situational Leadership, under the Adult Learning Theory. As for career development, the company offers many opportunities to network with influential members of the leadership team, supports efforts to meet peers in offices around the country (such as Pheonix, Salt Lake City, and New York), and encourages employees to take on projects that require multi-department teamwork. The most impressive resource American Express offers for leadership development is a personal mentor to guide employees through all aspects of their career with the company; the mentor is always a senior leader at American Express.
Cons
In my time at American Express, I have found two negative aspects about the company. The first is typical amongst most large companies: Poor communication from the top down. In specific, managers of front-line employees (employees dealing directly with customers) have little initial input on the directions upper management decides upon. Instead, these managers receive general goals to achieve, and must express these goals effectively to their employees and only when the direction headed poses challenges do managers have the opportunity to offer solutions. The second issue I have stems from the first. Managers at this level, because of the large gap in the heirarchy with their bosses, are not influential enough to have spirited debates with their superiors, but are very vulnerable to disrespect from their direct reports. To offer a metaphor, being a front-line manager at American Express is like being between a rock and a hard place: You can't talk to your boss the way you might like to, but your employees are at liberty to express their emotions, how they see fit, to you.