Feeling undervalued doesn't come from just compensation. But when you are under-compensated, underappreciated, and underutilized, you start to realize that the compensation isn't worth working at Via even if the mission strongly resonates with you.

If Via's leadership team starts to think about and treat their employees as humans, it would lead to a huge cultural shift. With the value-extraction mentality starting at the top, it's hard to envision the culture changing significantly at Via.

The leadership team needs to start asking questions to people outside the inner circle. For smart people, they make a lot of "rookie mistakes" that most seasoned leaders are good at avoiding, including groupthink, creating an echo chamber, and missing opportunities to learn from others.

If Via's social mission can be combined with sound management practices - putting their customers first and focus on having a positive impact - then Via can certainly be an extraordinary organization. Their singular focus on sales and revenue rather than impact makes it challenging.

Spending more time on asking thoughtful questions, trying to learn how you could have a positive impact on the team and mission, etc. would go a long way. Currently, they are more interested in attempting to demonstrate how smart/great they are, which comes off as a little juvenile.