Member-only story
The Pathetic Petulance Of The Professional Manager
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…
