1. James managed a global team of 45 people across four regions using an open work environment. However, lack of proper communication and understanding between the teams led to issues around compensation, workloads, and favoritism that triggered a crisis.
2. No single person was solely responsible for the crisis, which arose due to a lack of understanding between competitive teams only focused on their own goals. James shares some responsibility for miscommunication and improper leadership.
3. The open work environment exacerbated issues as teams worked from different time zones and countries with varying policies, creating imbalances in expectations and workloads that teams perceived as unfair treatment.