The company sells a carefully crafted image of relaxed coastal living. Behind the scenes, it's a business where talented employees spend more time compensating for leadership than being led by it.
The owner genuinely operates in his own universe.
A universe where deadlines are merely suggestions, expertise is optional, criticism only travels downwards and every idea is apparently genius because it came from him.
I've never seen someone so confident while being so consistently disconnected from what's actually happening around them. He has mastered the rare ability of being both heavily involved in everything and accountable for nothing.
Deadlines are treated as vague works of fiction. Expertise is routinely ignored. Every bad idea arrives with the confidence of a revolutionary breakthrough.
The business doesn't have a people problem, The people have a leadership problem.
And let's talk about the workplace itself.
For a company selling a premium lifestyle image, the office is a time capsule of neglect.
The office itself is perhaps the most honest thing about Brakeburn. It's tired, neglected and desperately overdue for investment. Staff spend winter wearing coats indoors because apparently keeping employees warm falls into the same category as salary increases: technically possible, but strongly discouraged.
The kitchen looks like the set of a low-budget documentary about Britain's forgotten pubs. I'm fairly certain the carpet has seen more government changes than the company has seen pay rises.
The toilets have become such a reliable habitat for spiders that they may as well be included in the staff directory.
The business runs on three things: ego, discounts and the increasingly fragile goodwill of employees.
