The CEO micromanages the daily goings on and gets in the way of innovation and trusted work. He can belittle the work that people do, is arrogant and dismissive. Unfortunately, his ways trickle down to those who work for him, creating a culture where people are not respected, fear reigns meetings, decisions are taken away from managers, and there is little room for mistakes and learning. Feedback is not provided to support growth and empower; instead it is used to correct and maintain power structures. Staff cannot challenge the CEO about his thinking, even though he often changes his thinking seemingly whimsically. Transparency is not a value of eGain's. Nor is honor, as nepotism runs many of the upper-most roles within the company. Information and teams are siloed. Typically, people do not share and collaborate because they want to remain in good-standing with the CEO and continue to hold the power/prestige they have within the small community of decision-makers. Instead of sharing insights and information to solve problems, they are ignored, band-aids are put into place, or the direction of the team swiftly and dramatically changes. Within the 2 years that I was there, the org chart changed 4 times to try and stop the bleeding and prevent further loss. Our strategic priorities shifted almost monthly, making it difficult to actually analyze the effects of our work. There are no Mission or Vision statement that the company follows. It is merely up to the ideas of the CEO at the time.
