Websense – “Good technology, unhealthy internals and execution”

Pros

Large and growing market
Strong, compact, complementary product porftolio
Strong global band - although only around web filtering
Large customer base

Cons

Top heavy compensation (2 additional levels of VP added in sales in last 2 years with flat growth, why do they need a president and a COO each at north of $500k per year total comp)
Rampant Politics
Micromanagement at officer level (even relatively minor decisions must be approved at highest level by only 2 people)
Flaky executive recruitment has resulted in repeated hires and fires at VP level
Uncompetitive compensation below executive level
Low employee morale
Weak sales execution
Now competing against huge cmopmetitors, no longer big player in market, risk of being squeezed out competely over long term

Advice to Senior Management

If you're going to cut costs, thin out the spend at the officer/SVP level. Remove the Gene/JMac stranglehold over decisionmaking and start to delegate. Increase positive communication and recognition of employees.