Honestly, this part is extremely difficult for me... this is not something that I wanted to do. But there are things that are happening at iA that I can no longer remain silent about. And I hope that by speaking my truth, other team members will also speak theirs. iA needs a change... and the change starts here. iA's culture in the past 2 years has become very toxic. And coming from someone that has witnessed every ownership change, I can confidentially say that our culture is currently being caused by some of our leadership. Don't get me wrong, we have a lot of fantastic leaders... but they are currently being over shadowed by the few that are not. The CEO is nice enough but unfortunately, he does not lead by example. He plays favoritism amongst his leadership team and allows that favoritism to cloud his judgement. He claims to be a champion of diversity, yet, his actions speak very differently. Whether it is intentional or not, he does not treat his diverse leaders with the same amount of value or respect as those that are... well, like him. He has taken their voice and in return, he has taken the voice of their entire team. He claims to Trust Daringly and Empower Ownership, but he seems to just have his Chief of Staff micromanage everything for him. He continues to ignore her rude and disrespectful behavior towards other team members and he's pretty much given her full control over whoever and whatever she wants. Her negative behavior has been felt all across the organization, and yet, nothing has changed. I'm truly not sure why they think that their behavior is acceptable, but I am here to tell you, it is not. iA's priorities are questionable. It's always about the NEW customer and NEXT big thing... I mean, that's great, but what about right now? We are drowning. Most of us are working the hours of 2 or more people every single week, for months and months on end. With no glimpse of relief. It's extremely hard to believe that the current priority is truly the wellness and success of iA and not being motivated by greed and power. And for the love of god, it's 2022. People can work remotely and still be successful. There is more than one way of getting in touch with someone... you don't need to walk to their office and see their face to get your question answered. The fact that our CEO and some others are having a difficult time grasping this concept, which will likely cost iA millions of dollars for a new office building large enough to fit us all (which is the plan that has been communicated), is absolutely ridiculous. 1 - we have office locations now that have more empty desks and offices than taken ones. And 2 - some of our teams can't even get approved to hire an additional 3 people for the entire new year, due to lack of budget. Where are the priorities here? But again, it's on us to get the work done. So either way you look at it, iA is setting us up for failure. Either we fail at being a parent, a partner, a friend, etc... or we fail at our jobs. That is a constant choice that so many of us are faced with daily, myself included... and it is not okay. Not when it is avoidable... and this is avoidable!
