Corporate Executive Board Reviews

Pros

The people - some of the most talented young people I've ever worked with
The alumni - because the talent pool is so strong and the turnover rate is high, there is a great network to draw upon
The clients - if you are member-facing, your personal network with C-level executives can be fantastic

Cons

Senior leadership - historically the leadership pool has been confined to a small core group of old timers who have been there since the 1993-1998 time period. Few are able to break in
Career advancement - see above
The product - the research remains a nice to have, not a must have
Translating skills and experience to the market - CEB is organized in such a unique way that it isn't always self-evident how one's skills transfer outside the CEB/ABC org structure

Advice to Senior Management

Move on and let some outsiders assess the situation and make some tough calls. Better yet, enable a private equity firm to purchase CEB, take it private, and cut out the fat.

Pros

Smart, fun colleagues... intellectually-stimulating projects... great way to add experience to the resume... DC is a great city for young professionals

Cons

Pay is only passable... overly bureaucratic ($500M company that feels like a $50B company), in order to make employees very dispensible... long-term growth prospects for the business are weak

Advice to Senior Management

If you truly want to innovate the business and make it "scalable", don't rely on content delivery to communicate the research... learn to write reports and make slide decks that members can read and understand on their own

Pros

Competitive salary (negotiate well)
good benefits and decent PTO (beware: vacation and sick leave are one and the same; great if your healthy, sucks if you have togo tot eh doctor often)
respect for important personal life events (birth of child, wedding, etc.): generous attitude to time off for such events
impressive access to executive leadership at leading companies
very smart, friendly bunch of folks to work with

Cons

- talk of "delighting members is overrated - member relations reps are swamped and barely get a few hours with each member (i.e. client) a year.
- Sales force & target-driven sales approach undermines whole premise of delighting customers...
- Promote people based on intellectual contribution/fin results who have no idea how to lead teams
- very hierarchical, top heavy leadership
- work-life balance non-existent unless you fight for it

Advice to Senior Management

stop worrying about quarterly results and focus on nurturing core, loyal customers. consider taking the company private again to refocus on content and quality. revamp the salesforce; in fact; ditch the numbers-driven sales model and ask who do you want to have as members for any given program.

Pros

Great colleagues
Great benefits in regards to vacation and time off
Great place to network

Cons

Poor work/life balance
Unable to use above stated benefit of generous PTO
Middle management without management skills
Core values are a nice plaque on the wall

Advice to Senior Management

Fire all middle management and let people do their job

Pros

Colleagues respect each other -- the people are the best part of the company. Smart and creative folks coming up with great ideas.

Cons

Long hours at times. Can be hard to figure out how to advance. People can sometimes be too passive aggressive.

Advice to Senior Management

Better compensation plan and clarity on advancement, with fewer course corrections in strategy. Would like better communication between employees as well.

Pros

Career advancement potential is fantastic - take a shot at traveling all over the world!

Cons

Long hours, but well compensated for your work. Definately know that you will be left on your island at times, so being independent will reward you!

Advice to Senior Management

Continue to strive and care for your employees - treat then with all of the respect you would like to be given and they will reward you.

Pros

The benefits and work life balance are actually quite good. Senior Director /MD/ED levels have a couple of nice perks including deferred comp plan, etc...The research and GMs leading the HR, Finance and Strategy practices are smart, people oriented and engaging. The office itself is picturesque, great view of the river with underground parking. A good place for college grads looking for their first job.

Cons

The senior executive team is really one of the worst I've ever come across. There have been rumors for a few years that the CEO would be ousted but that hasn't happened yet. The HR organization is way too powerful and frankly is not open minded but rather short sighted in its approach and thinking. The SMAC practice is one of the saddest - research is poorly done and managed by a team that has no practical experience and it shows.
The organization 5 years ago was very different than it is today. Very young and inexperienced 'lifers' have been promoted into positions that they are not qualified for. The sales and marketing team is just withering away - absent of clear direction and strategy.
IF you are just out of school - this is a great place to hang your hat for 18 months to 2 years. Then you need to leave as you will never gain the practical experience necessary to fill out your resume. The lifers here have to stay bc because they have no where to go...that's why you see so many boomarangs.

Advice to Senior Management

This is directed to the BOD as they are the only ones with the ability to really change things here.

I liked another recommendation from a previous post that suggested a private equity firm buyout. But whether it is that or simply a cleaning of the house - you will need to do something as the very good, experienced folks are leaving and you are left with inexperienced managers that are ill equipped to move the business forward.

Pros

travel - support from colleagues - Fun -

Cons

There is a lot of politics and who you know and who you are friends with is very important

Advice to Senior Management

Chose better managers -

Pros

Great exposure to senior executives even for junior researchers. Good cross-industry business education and of course a deep dive into the particular function you are serving.

Cons

It has gone from a product centric to a sales centric company across the last 3-4 years. The company is cutting its product (i.e. syndicated research) cost by both reducing its investment in absolute terms as well as doing all work it can in India instead of in the U.S.

Advice to Senior Management

You are moving further and further away from the original core values of the business. Wake up before it is too late, because eventually your clients will get wise to what is going on and start dropping memberships.

Pros

- Access to senior execs at the biggest companies in the world
- Great people who do care for each other
- Opportunity to travel if that's your thing
- Free business school education on the job- lots of best practice thinking is the product
- Movement within company

Cons

- The business model has failed to adapt- CEB's product was unique pre-google and has yet to reemerge as the must have for corporate management
-research is stale
- variable compensation for sales is unreliable except in certain programs in the company, leading to high turnover and poor retention of good performers
-reorging the sales department every year has left many poor managers in seat because they are favored

Advice to Senior Management

reinvest in more costly products rather than writing research on the cheap