The company is made up primarily of young talented graduates, most of whom realize after a couple of years that they are being taken advantage of and move on. The quality of the work simply doesn’t matter to senior US management and is generally well beneath the capability of the work force. This is somewhat explained by the profit sharing arrangement that is highly lucrative in favor of the leader of the US. The overall lack of leadership, self awareness and basic business acumen in the US division will ensure that the only way the company will grow in the US is by referrals from the French entity. The performance of US leadership in particular in front of clients is extraordinarily poor, it is defined by narcissism and the overall incompetence is something that is widely spoken about in hushed tones throughout the company. Most employees are totally embarrassed by a lack of client facing capability and presentation skills are ’terrible’ (to quote one prominent client). The intimidation tactics appear to work well on the majority of the young staff; most of whom won’t challenge the status quo and would rather ‘pursue other opportunities' once they ascertain that this particular emperor has no clothes. One of the more troubling aspects of the company in the US, which appears to emanate from a small company mentality (where growth has been thrust upon rather timid ego and shoulders by the success of the Paris office, as opposed to being earned) is the propensity to covertly undermine the CEO in Paris through very snide and envious remarks, in addition to, at times, overt communication about the total dislike of the company founder and the partners in the Paris office in general. This saps company morale and is very confusing as US leadership compensation is highly dependent on the success conferred by the same people that are so blatantly critiqued.
