A cautionary tale: Toxic leadership, False promises, and Zero accountability - Recensione dipendente - Marketing Director presso Forj

From day one at Forj, it’s clear that this is a company built with intention. What we do is exciting and life changing. Our purpose is to empower the professionals who make our world better. We are a learning community software platform purpose-built for associations. People like pediatricians, emergency physicians, critical care nurses, portfolio executives, health insurance professionals, realtors and more leverage our technology to connect and grow their careers through traditional and social learning. While our technology is great, what stands out most is the people. Teams are smart, collaborative, and genuinely supportive. Leaders are accessible and transparent, and there’s a strong sense of trust—you’re encouraged to bring ideas forward, challenge assumptions, and take ownership of your work. That creates an environment where people don’t just execute tasks; they think critically about how to make things better for customers and for each other. Forj is in a phase of growth, which makes the work exciting. There’s energy around building, learning, and evolving, and you can see your impact in real time. If you enjoy being part of a company that’s shaping its future rather than maintaining the status quo, this is a rewarding place to work.

Because the company is growing, things can move quickly and priorities may shift. That pace isn’t for everyone, but for those who enjoy momentum and change, it’s part of the appeal. People who are not successful at Forj like the idea of working for a SaaS startup, but struggle with the reality of working for a SaaS startup and what that means in terms of change, pivots and unpredictability as we grow and scale.

The engineering team is a high-functioning, high-EQ team with an amazing culture that always puts people first. Though the team is fully remote, it feels like you’re all in a shared office space every day through the magic of tools like Tuple. They practice pair-programming on the regular, and I’ve seen it time & time again be the most effective way of onboarding new people as well as breaking down context silos.

I think the leadership team is struggling to strike the right balance of long-term focus on vision & mission and short-term focus on financial goals & pressures. While they are above-average in terms of transparency & vulnerability, there is still plenty of room to grow to facilitate more trust in both directions.