This company is not what it appears to be from the outside. Roles rarely match the job you were hired for — senior leaders are often placed on delivery projects doing work several levels below or above their experience. As a result, there’s never real leadership capacity, because the focus has shifted completely to short-term profit (GM) instead of people or sustainable growth.
The company has been through several leadership phases — AND, BJSS, and now Kin and Carta — which began with the appointment of the COO in 2024. While some believe current challenges come from earlier eras, most of the instability seems tied to this change. There’s a recurring pattern of capable leaders leaving or being quietly exited, and that continues today.
Decision-making is highly top-down. The CEO regularly overrules others and centralises control, leaving very little autonomy for anyone at a senior level. The CEO, COO, and CPO operate in a tightly controlled way that creates an environment where trust and empowerment are almost non-existent. The rest of the exec team are not really allowed to have an opinion just do what is required.
The People Team is unusually heavy-handed. Instead of genuine conversations, issues are often handled through quiet exits or settlement agreements. Raising concerns doesn’t feel safe — feedback is frequently taken personally, and employees who speak up risk being pushed out. This has created a culture of fear and silence across leadership levels.
Direction changes constantly. The CEO’s shifting priorities mean that work often gets redone or scrapped entirely, wasting significant time and effort. Noncompliance with these changing demands can quickly put someone on the sidelines. Leadership training was mandatory but offered little value — overly simplistic and more about control than development. Most training feels like a compliance exercise rather than a genuine investment in people.