Why are senior managers idiots?

The BBQ Pit
1

Sorry, I just have to vent.

I work for one of the biggest companies in the world.

And it never ceases to amaze me how utterly, completely, totally INCOMPETENT senior management can be. Now, I’m an executive director, so when I say ‘senior management’, I’m *really really *talking about ‘senior management’. As in ‘the 35-odd people that actually run the company’.

It would be a lot easier to live with if there was some good ol’ office politics involved. You know, the typical back-stabbing, in-fighting, the usual stuff. But no, this is all just people…sucking at their jobs.

Just one example: one of the departments decided they wanted a new template design for their product. Normally that would be at least a 6-9 month process: talk to corporate communications about logo usage, get feedback from the domestic and overseas branches, talk to the design center people, get some mock-ups together and get feedback from the various analysts and sales desks, maybe a client focus group etc.

But wait - why did they want a new template? Did they want a newer, cleaner, more modern design? Did they want to a template that did a better job of delivering the analysts’ message? Maybe they were focused on strengthening their brand?

Um, no - they just had one analyst that wanted ‘more room to write on the front page’.

So this one analyst made a new template. Wall-to-wall text. Font size 8pt. Red font everywhere.

This template was put into use from the following Monday. No one outside the department saw it until the first note was published using it.

:eek::smack::smack::smack::smack:
When asked why at the very least the overseas sales desks weren’t consulted, the head of research responded, ‘Oh, it would be too hard to agree on something if we got so many different opinions’.

:rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:

Sadly, this isn’t even in the top 10 of stupid stunts in the past six months. But oh-so-typical.
I’ve been headhunted like crazy the last couple of years and keep turning down offers because I’m loyal to one of the good guys above me, and it looks like there is an outside chance he gets on the board next year. But if he doesn’t I’ll be out of here so fast I’ll leave vapor trails.

2

Peter Principle. My guess anyway.

3

In addition to the PP - the managers may say they want honest feedback, they may even actually want honest feedback, they may even reward honest feedback - but it’s hard to tell your boss that his idea sucks.

4

Cream and bastards rise to the top.

5

As do turds in the cesspool…

6

Because they don’t work for the company, they work for WallStreet.

This is a typical problem with most large companies. At exactly the level that Board approval is necessary for hiring, the internal knowledge and motivation fall to near zero. Continuity? Who cares? Employee welfare? Bah! Product Quality? It only matters if the Market THINKS it’s good.

You didn’t actually think that Corporate Boards run companies did you? No, dear, their job is to squeeze dollars from companies for the stockholders. And guess what form 90% of their compensation comes in?

7

What you really should be doing is helping us focus all of your efforts across the board to leverage the new paradigm.

8

This is simply empowerment and efficiency at work, what any good Lean or 6 Sigma consultant would recommend. He probably saved the company 1000s of hours of rework loops. If he’s as sharp as he appears, I bet he’s already documented the business savings and how much he’s enhanced shareholder value.

<Tongue partially in cheek>

9

And going forward, you should try to work smarter, not harder. At the end of the day, if you think outside the box, you’ll discover a win-win situation and maybe go from good to great.

10

This is where you lost me, because in no way do those 35-odd people “run the company.” I guarantee that if they all went on a year-long vacation starting tomorrow, the company would continue humming along just fine. It’s all the working stiffs underneath them, the front-line employees who actually handle the product or deal with customers or whatever your particular company does at the most basic level, as well as the mid- and lower-management folks who make real decisions and put out fires on a daily basis --* those* are your real company-runners.

So the high-level execs, feeling the need to justify their ludicrously bloated salaries, come up with ridiculous shit such as you’ve described because it’s visible, and therefore they get the illusion of actually making a difference even though it’s merely cosmetic at best.

11

I was a software freelancer for a while, and worked for several huge corporations. In that capacity, I had contacts with people way up high on corporate ladder. Maybe one out of 20 knew what the hell he was doing. In addition to that ridiculous level of incompetency up high, the procedural bureaucracy creates ridiculous inefficiencies. What would take a small nimble company 2 days to do takes 6 months to a year in a big corporation.

It is a mystery to me how big corporations manage to survive, produce their product(s) and be profitable. Really. Economies of scale can only take you so far.

12

Both of you bring something to the table; it’d be a real game changer if we could capture that synergy with a value-added solution.

13

I’ve been working from home for nearly six years now – one of about 70 folks in our company that have jobs that in no way require going into an office – and loving every second of it. Not having to spend 2+hours each day driving? Awesome.

And it’s all coming to a fucking end* because one person is a self-absorbed shitheel.

Our new VP once had a job where she telecommuted – and in addition to doing her job, she also took care of her elderly and infirm mother, clearly in violation of any work-at-home agreement. For her, work-at-home was a position she couldn’t handle – she was simply too undisciplined. But for her to admit that to herself would require a level of self-realization that she clearly does not possess. Instead, she came to the conclusion that if a perfect worker like her would spend most of her time doing non-work, then clearly no one else would be able to get a full day’s work done and work-at-home is a failed concept.

Fuck you. Fuck you and your misplaced work ethic. Fuck you and the $14,000/year pay cut this will represent for me. Fuck you and the idea that you know dick one about how to run this company. Stupid, ignorant, lazy bitch.

*Probably. There’s still a glimmer of hope that our union can make the company realize that this is a mind-bogglingly stupid fucking idea.

14

It was pretty much true back when I worked for the Bell System, and then AT&T. But it hasn’t been true, mostly, for the high tech companies I’ve worked at since. I’ve seen some people who are terrible managers but who are brilliant at other things. Arno Penzias comes to mind - maybe he didn’t really deserve the Nobel Prize, but he was far from stupid.

15

Ditto here. It amazes me the amount of money these companies can waste yet still turn a huge profit - I suppose by passing the costs on to the consumers.

16

I’m not exactly following what a template is in this context, and it sounds like the replacement is awful, but spending the better part of a year to redesign something that really doesn’t sound very important? Wow. I thought the Pentagon bureaucracy was bad.

17

IME, no one wants truly honest feedback. They only want to hear things that make them look good. “Opportunities” to improve? God forbid…

Bri2k

18

That sucks. :frowning: The ability to work from home is one of those nice things technology brought us. Sometimes. However, I’m confused about the part I bolded: is that your math on increased costs due to commuting?

19

Just keep in mind that, while they were on the rise, and the people above them screamed “You’re not paid to think!”, these are the people that believed them and kissed their asses in order to get promoted.

20

I work in IT. I work with end users all around the country, including off hours. I am never physically with who I am helping. My work is monitored by phone and incident tracking tools.

This is exactly the kind of job that telecommuting was envisioned for. All my work comes in via phone and e-mail and all of that can go to my home. We can free up office space and help with crowding in the parking lot. But our CIO will have none of it.