Pros
+ Great mission, great contributor-level people (scientists, engineers, etc.) + Best-in-class methods, sometimes too academic + Lots of resources
Cons
+ Broken talent pipeline. There is huge age compression in management: 50-year old VPs are managing 48-year old Sr. Directors and 47-year-old Directors. Everyone else is kept in individual or pseudo-individual contributor roles and the managers' buddies are the only ones who progress above that. Not a meritocracy by any stretch. Periodically, management will say - 'we need a talent pipeline' and then hire a bunch of greenhorns who don't know anything, get cool experiences for a year or two and then quit because they see it's old school and they're not going anywhere. + Hyper-political large company