Where to even begin? How to even describe the disappointment in realizing the smoke and mirrors designed now to try to maintain opower's former glory?
Opower is an example of what happens when a company rests on its laurels and gets a head bigger than its actual impact. Yeah the product was good, but it stopped being cool years ago. Since then, the company has only innovated only when it was forced to- can you even call that innovation? Because of the impact and success of their energy efficiency product, they found it somehow acceptable to treat people like crap. And this included the company's own customers and prospects. In what world is it ever acceptable to tell your customers' teams that they're outdated and stupid? Perhaps in Opower's world, where the CMO has 0 marketing background and saw it fit to fire anyone whose actual marketing experience threatened him.
And don't even get me started on the middle managers. Arrogant chauvinistic middle managers who tell their female employees they have to be "nicer" while rewarding equally aggressive male employees. Middle managers who tell subordinates to be bottlenecks when processes don't go the way they envision. Underutilizing highly talented, high educated lower level staff because the first priority at opower is catering to senior managers' ego- not actually getting business done and producing better products.
The free food and perks can only smoke and mirror so long. You forget, Opower, that your employees are extremely smart and eventually they see right through the shiny distractions
But you know the most heartbreaking thing about all this?
You could have been so good. You had all the right people. All the right momentum. And then you thought you were smarter than having to play by the basic business rules and threw it all away.
