Wood Mackenzie reviews

I was very excited about working at Wood Mackenzie, because the position I took was perfectly suited for my skills and interests. I was sorely disappointed. My immediate co-workers were just awful people: petty, arrogant (without the real achievements that might justify being so), undermining, and often outright mean. The company also lied to me about a key parameter of my job during the interview/contract signing period. I felt insulted, devalued, and I voluntarily quit -- even though I expected at the outset to be at the firm at a minimum of several years. Finally, for a data-heavy information and analytics firm....WoodMac is light on technical skill. Co-workers kept talking about their "models" of upstream research, by which they just meant: Excel files, with no actual "modeling" component to it. Being a glorified Excel jockey is fine as a job, but the way WoodMac does it is shockingly inefficient and poor.

Sadly, what used to be a thriving meritocracy has become strongly protected oligarchy by a group of cronies at the top of the company. Deeply rooted insecurities have made this group take on a “Game of Thrones” mindset of silencing or removing anyone who challenges their narrative, and the political theater that goes on to communicate to the masses is sign of the times. There have been multiple senior executives that have even come in from the outside that have been set-up to take the fall for other leader’s mistakes over the past few years (something to consider if thinking about VP or above positions) to help this group continue their grasp onto power. The ability to play politics and show loyalty to the oligarchy is the ultimate skill within the higher ranks, and the business has suffered as a result. Additionally, this insecurity around how to lead this type of organization in the current digital-driven world leads to short-term thinking / focus and a lack of willingness to commit to a strategy or path due to unrealistic expectations set by leadership who should understand better. This results in chasing the flavor of the month / quarter while competitors deeply invest in understanding market needs and commit to delivering valuable solutions. In today’s company, people thrive by being “Yes men / women” over delivering value. However, due to the continuously degrading business performance, not even this gets rewarded in a significant way unless you’re already sitting at the top.