General Electric

• If you are labeled as a top performer (I was), you are given many opportunities to attend various trainings and are given exposure to upper management.

• Generally a very hard-working and good workforce; good people to work with.

• Meritocracy (used to be more than now) where hard workers are rewarded for their efforts.

• Job security: as long as you do your job, you will have one because GE isn't going to go out of business anytime soon.

Bureaucracy. Not too long after Jack Welch left the company, the bureaucracy has grown like cancer. This is what you would expect from a culture that believes in meritocracy, but the company is extremely slow to experience real "organic" growth, leaving limited positions for advancement. The bureaucracy hinders "outside of the box thinking" and leads the organization to seek short-term gains.

Leadership is full of little "Napoleons" who rule their own domains with little concern for their employees or other domains.

Benefits are becoming less and less attractive. What used to be a generous stock, healthcare, and salary package has been whittled away to be average or below industry, even for top performers.

Get rid of middle management.

Look beyond the metrics.

Grow the company (IP, products, industries), not just the bottom line.

Reward the employees more fairly for the best years of their lives.