Vantaggi
The culture combines results focus with friendly collaboration on the Search side. Strong value around transparency; relatively easy to track personal results. Strong learning focus on the Leadership Advisory Services side staff. Gets feedback from clients.
Svantaggi
Too many decisions based on friendships rather than objective measures; dysfunctional senior people protected (even at the cost of losing more junior people), either because of their friends, or because people don't like giving negative feedback, or both. Some bad behavior tolerated from good revenue generators, but truly negative behavior is usually punished. Like most professional service firms, mediocre leadership at best at most levels. Leadership Advisory Services has extremely bureaucratic leadership (with significant gender bias as well, which I can see even though I am not female), and the very top has alienated many of the most capable staff, who either retreat into client work or leave. Because the consulting staff and associates are working very hard and producing good monetary results, it masks the highly dysfunctional and incompetent leadership decisions being made.