Blue Coat Systems – “heavily political.”

Pros

CEO is generous
good products
talented engineers

Cons

ineffective middle management layers (too many cooks make the soup sour)
losing valuable engineers because they are not friends with the key players

Advice to Senior Management

Brian,if you really want to find out what's going on on each level , hire someone you trust at lower level as undercover. They will give you most accurate stats. The middle management has to do whatever it takes to make themselves look valuable to the company. Don't be afraid to compare the methodology to other companies and learn from them. Bluecoat will be successful if it execute it right. Work smarter, not harder.