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That graphic above is from a Zenger-Folkman article on quiet quitting. I already covered off on “quiet quitting” once — it’s a dumb narrative, all-in — but I think the entire discussion brings something much bigger to the foreground. Notably: why do we allow managers to hide?
Think about it:
- We let managers hide behind technology.
- We let managers ignore new hires in the name of how “slammed” they are.
- We let managers hide behind their incompetence.
- We let managers ignore their direct reports.
- We let managers say they “lack the time” to respect their employees.
- We let managers hide one of the biggest parts of their job — hiring, engaging employees — under HR
- We let managers hide from almost everything.
There is some semantic stuff here. An “executive” is someone at the absolute top of a hierarchy in white-collar (and sometimes blue-collar). An executive is essentially beholden to everything and nothing at the same time. What that means is, technically their ass is on the line about everything that happens (hence the justification for their compensation) but in reality, the only things that actually matter to executives are revenue growth, sales, some other form of growth…
