2018 was a terrible year for the organization - financially, for morale, and for reputation. Things had been relatively positive until that point - although clearly the organization was not financially stable. When times are tough, you can either motivate people and double down on your principles and values - or you can create a Darwinian system where you allow people to be disrespected, enable narcissism to be used as a management principle, and sexism concerns to go unaddressed. Employees were not (all) very treated well during a period of upheaval and layoffs. Doors were shut, heads were held down. When concerns were raised in particular about certain people in senior management, e.g. a member of the exec team's harsh and inexperienced management of staff from interns up to directors, the paraphrased message given was that being a bad manager and being mean were not disqualifying characteristics. And, if cruel management tactics delivered results, perhaps there would be a rationale. But, in a human rights organization people generally (correctly) expect to be treated with kindness and respect. I saw how harsh tactics made people freeze and become less productive.
