Autodesk is a highly political organization. Those who get ahead commit tremendous energy internal manipulation and consolidation of personal power - not concerned with customers or their reports. It is a highly competitive environment where there is always a looser. You move up by pushing someone else down. Cooperation and teamwork are mostly foreign concepts in this highly siloed organization.
Many senior managers, directors, and executives got to where they are because of persistence and ruthless dedication to self aggrandizement inside that like minded leadership group - not because of talent, accomplishments, or support of those that report to them. The result is a large pool of talented individual contributors that are mostly not able or allowed to do their best work.
In the last 3 years, during the economic crisis, both layoffs and internal austerity measures where extensive, while - during the same period - additional layers of management structure were added. This has resulted in great frustration, low moral, and an employee / management relationship that could be described as confrontational. Many feel betrayed by those at the helm, and are simply biding time until the job market picks up. Departures have risen in the last year, and I expect them to rise dramatically in the coming months and years.
As mentioned in another review I read, Carl has a narrow focus that seems to randomly shift between groups & projects - often at a very detailed level. The impression is there's no one leading the company as one team. Autodesk feels like a loose confederation of often competing independent companies, all continually jockeying for the lead in an internal power strugle.
