Pros
Defy’s mission attracts incredibly talented staff who bond through the chaos created by leadership. Through your experience at Defy, you will gain important insights about yourself and how to run/not run an organization.
Cons
Once you join Defy, you will experience what many staff refer to as "the eight stages of Defy." Staff experience these stages at different paces but ultimately, you will experience all eight. Stage 1: Euphoria When first joining everything will seem amazing! How lucky you are to have left behind a dissatisfying career and team with a CEO who is so dynamic, charismatic, bold, and innovative. You will feel like you are part of something that will change the world. You are drinking the koolaid. Stage 2: Concern Slowly you will start to pick up on warning signs, mainly cultural at first -- including that many “old staff” appear tired, burnt out, pessimistic, and unfriendly. Staff meetings will seem "off," disorganized, and lacking energy. As well, initial promises and expectations will prove to be major exaggerations. For example, you may have been told that Defy is a data driven organization and then find out that much of the data is from surveys kept in Microsoft Word from 2 years ago. You may have been told that "we're moving into better office space" or "the CEO really wants you to succeed." L. O. L. Stage 3: I can fix this. You'll feel compelled to make a change. You will feel a responsibility to make major improvements and feel empowered by Defy’s leadership to offer suggestions. Very quickly, you will realize that your input does not matter and that calls for innovation simply mean the CEO has the right to create endless chaos for the staff. Stage 4: Disillusionment After being rebuffed in making changes and likely having your character or competency attacked as a result of pointing our Defy's deficiencies, you will start to vent to other staff. Due to the office culture, this feedback will mysteriously get back to senior leadership who will then call you out for "gossiping" and insinuate that you are the problem and you are unprofessional. Defy’s CEO will personally find additional ways to demoralize you, while keeping the organization distracted from this abuse by perpetuating constant change and employing "mean girl" tactics in an (often failed and incredibly transparent) attempt to drive wedges between staff alliances. Stage 5: Depression You will surrender to the chaos and realize you've made a horrible mistake by taking the job. You will question whether you should quit immediately (can you afford to do that?) or cling to the potential the organization has (you still believe there is potential at this point). Because you are likely a highly motivated person still early in your career, you will be concerned about how this will impact your job search -- you will feel stuck. This will create a downward spiral where your unhappiness at your job will spread throughout your life. Family and friends will start to comment and become concerned. Stage 6: Anger Slowly this depression will morph into seething anger where the mere sight of the CEO will visibly upset you. When she appears randomly in the doorway or asks you to do things, you will be forced to bite your lip to prevent yourself from lashing out. You will then be lectured by the CEO for your negative attitude and incompetence. Stage 7: Acceptance Eventually, this anger will wear off and you will realize that Defy is not real. It is not a real organization or a real cause or the way that functional, healthy human beings operate. Defy exists to satisfy the personal ego of the CEO. Once you come to terms with the reality, the "work" becomes much easier. Your new focus becomes: getting out. This phase can last a few days, a few months or even a few years, depending on your own financial situation, personal mental health and outside support system. Stage 8: Exit As another staff member on here alluded to, 25 staff (of a traditionally 15 person staff) have left in the last 18 months. Departure is the final stage, which surprisingly happens on pretty positive terms because Defy desperately wants to portray the image that turnover is a result of "bad hires" who "they encourage to move on" and not a reflection of the leadership's gross incompetence. You can choose to believe this or not -- the CEO will likely tell you that these posts were written by "haters" who "were too weak" for Defy. You may take her bait. You may believe you are the exception to the rule. She is incredibly convincing. If you decide to work for Defy, get ready to experience the stages. Don't say you weren't warned.