The downward spiral of a failing company, that could be great - District Manager Guitar Center Employee Review

1.0
23 May 2023
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Great people to work with from the peer level down

Cons

Absolutely everything you can think of. The company is severely broken and in a downward spiral with executive leadership that refuses to listen to any ideas or feedback what-so-ever. The level of micromanagement is crippling to the field from the RVP’s down to the stores. Their answer to everything is to push more executables down, with no labor left in the stores to complete virtually any tasks let alone take care of customers. DM’s are not valued what so ever and are replaceable in the eyes of the executive team. We are ran like a grocery store, which is the farthest from our retail business model. The management committee thinks they can “technology” their way out of the downward trend of horrible sales. This is not and will never be the case in a business that is a customer relationship, commission driven business. Executive leadership is panicking with the new investors and do not know how to get out of the current downward trend. Here’s a thought, stop bringing in outside talent that is incapable of helping and allow the homegrown talent to help, let us do what we do best and stop inventing new tactics that won’t ever work. You have all you need, simply the business and let us run.

Explore other reviews about Guitar Center

5.0
16 Jul 2025
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Management takes good care of you

Cons

No complaints that I can think of

1.0
21 Apr 2026
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

- Plenty of capable individual contributors doing real work. - The brand and the business itself are legitimate — the problems are organizational.

Cons

- Senior leadership is politically driven rather than outcome-driven. Strategic initiatives stall out, and leaders spend more energy assigning or shifting blame than actually diagnosing and fixing problems. - Some parts of the org operate on deference to the top. Honest assessments get softened into whatever narrative leadership wants to hear, which makes real cross-functional work difficult. - Senior leaders do not consistently advocate for their own teams. When things get political, self-preservation takes precedence over backing the people underneath, and capable managers end up exposed.

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