Pros
Most team members are passionate about their work and are kind and interesting people. Certain teams provide staff with more autonomy than others. This is a great organization for entry-level employees interested in social change and wanting to get a foot in the door in the industry. Lots of interesting work.
Cons
This organization is not a good fit for mid-level managers and senior level employees hoping to demonstrate expertise or independent thought, contribute experience, or do things even slightly differently than leadership envisions. It does not matter how qualified you are. Decision-making rests with a very small group of people, and at the end of the day, they will do what they want to do without taking anyone else’s (often well-informed) views into account. Employees in certain units may find themselves trying to deliver products based on what they think upper management wants and will agree with, rather than improved approaches. On a similar note, micromanagement from the top trickles out throughout the organization and removes any incentive to contribute hard work — there is no point working hard when that work will ultimately be re-done in whatever image upper management has in mind on a given day. To some extent this is management’s prerogative in any organization, but in this context it is incredibly demotivating. Mid-level managers are hired for their experience and expertise, but then in some units assigned primarily administrative tasks. This seems to be for two reasons: first, upper management does not always trust staff to do their jobs, so entry-level admin tasks are the only things middle managers are really permitted to do. Second, some senior staff truly believe they should have personal assistants to manage their calendars; if these staff do not have a PA, they will turn to middle managers to do these functions (even if that is not a part of the job description).