Toxic leadership, narcissism at the top, and a firm that thinks it's bigger than it is
Pros
• Above-average vacation time. • The Do What You Love program is genuinely appreciated and one of the few employee-focused initiatives that feels authentic. • The opportunity to work with some really incredible SMEs in select service lines.
Cons
The culture is increasingly defined by ego, politics, and leadership self-congratulation rather than accountability or results. There is a persistent "boys' club" dynamic among senior leadership that many employees can see but few feel comfortable discussing openly. Leadership talks extensively about culture and values while simultaneously creating an environment where influence appears to matter more than competence and loyalty matters more than performance. It's really hard to respect some of these partners when they think it's acceptable to make comments about women's appearances in the office and treating their colleagues and clients to a trip to a strip club. The firm desperately wants to be seen as a Big 4 competitor, yet continues to lose significant opportunities to them. Rather than developing internal talent, leadership frequently looks outside the organization for hires from larger firms while existing employees watch their own career progression stall. And this approach is not paying off. This obsession with stealing talent from other firms that are also struggling with stalled revenue because of their legacy model is just nonsensical. The compensation framework is fundamentally broken. New hires can be brought in at levels that make long-serving employees look underpaid by comparison. Employees who have spent years contributing to the firm can find themselves below the very salary ranges leadership claims to support. The business results do not match the confidence coming from the executive team. Employees have watched experienced partners and senior managers leave in large numbers, most recently from tech consulting. The sale of more than 20 offices to MNP materially changed the firm's footprint, while competitors have strengthened their position in the mid-market. Yet leadership messaging rarely reflects the reality many employees see on the ground. The firm's obsession with AI is another irritant. It feels less like a business initiative and more like a belief system. The assumption that technology can replace expertise, judgment, and human relationships despite little evidence that clients actually want that future will lead them to make the same embarrassing mistakes as their competitors. Some corporate functions, particularly marketing, can feel dominated by cliques. Success often appears tied to being part of the right social circle rather than bringing the best ideas to the table. One particularly disappointing example of the firm's confused approach to inclusion was criticism directed at a market-facing service designed to support women business leaders. Hearing that type of program characterized as "exclusionary" raised legitimate questions about whether leadership truly understands the difference between creating opportunities for underrepresented groups and excluding everyone else.