The Pathetic, Petulant Professional Manager

Why do these people "lead" others?

Across the course of 10,000 happy hours in my life, I’ve heard many stories of bad bosses. Anecdotally, I can say those stories have ticked up in the past decade. I think all of us know this inherently, although I don’t know if I can point to a specific thing around 2013–2014 that put more terrible bosses into managerial roles. More than likely, it had to do with the aftermath of the 2008 crash, where/when I am sure executives put “numbers guys” and “loyalists” into high-managerial slots, and since game recognize game and like promote like, the tidal waves started hitting the beach.

Not even white-collar, but I got laid off from a church job about four weeks ago.

As I struggle to figure out what’s next, I try not to be resentful of that church and its people, but it is hard. My boss in that role was a smug-appearing, often-petulant pastor named Shannon. He made almost no effort to get to know me, talk to me, understand where this job fit in the tapestry of my career/life, or even explain workflows. Basically, this other lady' who was retiring was my boss until December 31, 2023. After January 2nd, when Shannon “officially” became my boss, I think the first time we truly spoke to each other was January 14th. I wouldn’t call that “effective management,” but I also realize I can sound petty in describing this story.

Eventually, and I still don’t know the entire story of my layoff, it seems like Shannon maybe decided he didn’t want to work with me, and maybe there were some financial pressures somewhere for headcount and money out to be reduced. Got it. But how would someone like Shannon even make the decision to get rid of me? We never spoke about anything. He barely understood what I did every day.