Dysfunctional Marketing Leadership That Undermines Its Own Team - Senior Marketing Automation Specialist Generac Power Systems Employee Review

The marketing management team consistently fails to take accountability for their mistakes and regularly passes blame to others. Projects are often “in progress” for months under management’s control, but get handed off to individual contributors a week before launch without clear requirements, timelines, or data readiness. When deadlines are missed, management blames the team instead of acknowledging the lack of planning and communication. Deadlines are frequently chosen at random to “have something on paper,” regardless of technical feasibility or sprint capacity. When issues are escalated, leadership’s response is inconsistent and defensive. If you follow CRM best practices (such as SFMC-recommended methods), you may still be criticized for not doing it “their way,” even when your approach is faster, more efficient, and aligned with platform standards. The team has developed a pattern of chasing buzzwords, particularly “AI,” without measuring ROI or performance impact. For example, after A/B testing showed that the new AI tool performed worse than human-built campaigns, leadership still invested heavily in it. They also spend large sums outsourcing work that could easily be handled in-house at a fraction of the cost. Generac’s CRM and marketing leadership regularly override industry standards, such as moving from double opt-in to single opt-in for SMS (to increase volume rather than engagement) or refusing to suppress inactive email users, resulting in repeated spam-trap issues. These decisions put both compliance and deliverability at risk. They do not listen to people who have experience in the platform. Also, family health insurance sucks, and if your spouse has a job, you will have to pay $300 fee on top of what you're paying because your spouse's job offers insurance.