I am now working for my 5th boss in lees than three years. I'll wait just a bit so that this will sink in...
It's a position just a heartbeat away from plant manager. It's pretty important to the whole organization. The only person who has more folks under him, directly and indirectly, is the plant manager. Decisions made by the person in this spot have a huge impact. Remember the old joke about it taking 1000 bolts to build a car but it only takes one nut to scatter it all over the road? The guy two bosses back was pretty nutty, but he doesn't hold a Roman candle to the new guy. This might be a good thing. Then again, it might be another catastrophe.
Bad things first... The new guy is old. He has been receiving this for at least a decade. He doesn't hear well and I am terrified to take him out in the plant because he doesn't walk very well, either. The boys have taken to calling him "Walleye" because his left eye is so lazy that he can be looking at you and the wall at the same time. Yes, boys can be cruel and they don't tend to grow out of it. They grow tact (sometimes). He is blissfully ignorant of the rampant micromanagement beginning at the corporate office. Maybe ignorant is the wrong word...maybe it's more like a little kid and monsters under the bed and he just chooses to believe there are no monsters (even though there are).
He is optimistic, which, if you've read any of these posts you will quickly realize that I am not. Therefore, cynical bastids like me barely tolerate folks of his ilk. Some might say that a cynic is an optimist that is prepared for a different result. Anyway, he is optimistic, and I have come to realize that people in upper management positions MUST be optimistic if they are to have any chance at making positive change. They must spout optimism at every opportunity, just to offset the normal cynicism of the people who don't like change simply because it is change. He is good at it. He talks about being "THE BEST" and how we want to always "LEAD THE PACK" and "MAKE OUR OWN RULES". He thinks our situation is worse than it actually is (he knows he's the 5th boss is less than 3 years) so some of what he says is talking behind the curtain, but he says it with conviction and he repeats it liberally. He does not change the message to fit the audience. I'm beginning to think he might actually mean what he says. Do I want to get sucked in, or is he this guy? What if he is?
All four of the ex-bosses had a vision of what they wanted the department to be. One thought in terms of processes; one thought in terms of projects; one thought in terms of people (one did not think much at all). This new guy thinks of all these. That's what a boss should be like, right?
It's going to end badly. There's no possible good ending. The plant manager is a world-class second-guesser, and a definite national champion blame-affixer. The folks who do well in the management ranks are butt-kissing lackeys - the ones with ability have been run off or are hunkered down, unwilling to do or say anything of value. Is the old guy optimistic and wily, or just optimistic. If he's the latter, you can bet you will soon see me lamenting about bosses number 6 and 7...
It's a position just a heartbeat away from plant manager. It's pretty important to the whole organization. The only person who has more folks under him, directly and indirectly, is the plant manager. Decisions made by the person in this spot have a huge impact. Remember the old joke about it taking 1000 bolts to build a car but it only takes one nut to scatter it all over the road? The guy two bosses back was pretty nutty, but he doesn't hold a Roman candle to the new guy. This might be a good thing. Then again, it might be another catastrophe.
Bad things first... The new guy is old. He has been receiving this for at least a decade. He doesn't hear well and I am terrified to take him out in the plant because he doesn't walk very well, either. The boys have taken to calling him "Walleye" because his left eye is so lazy that he can be looking at you and the wall at the same time. Yes, boys can be cruel and they don't tend to grow out of it. They grow tact (sometimes). He is blissfully ignorant of the rampant micromanagement beginning at the corporate office. Maybe ignorant is the wrong word...maybe it's more like a little kid and monsters under the bed and he just chooses to believe there are no monsters (even though there are).
He is optimistic, which, if you've read any of these posts you will quickly realize that I am not. Therefore, cynical bastids like me barely tolerate folks of his ilk. Some might say that a cynic is an optimist that is prepared for a different result. Anyway, he is optimistic, and I have come to realize that people in upper management positions MUST be optimistic if they are to have any chance at making positive change. They must spout optimism at every opportunity, just to offset the normal cynicism of the people who don't like change simply because it is change. He is good at it. He talks about being "THE BEST" and how we want to always "LEAD THE PACK" and "MAKE OUR OWN RULES". He thinks our situation is worse than it actually is (he knows he's the 5th boss is less than 3 years) so some of what he says is talking behind the curtain, but he says it with conviction and he repeats it liberally. He does not change the message to fit the audience. I'm beginning to think he might actually mean what he says. Do I want to get sucked in, or is he this guy? What if he is?
All four of the ex-bosses had a vision of what they wanted the department to be. One thought in terms of processes; one thought in terms of projects; one thought in terms of people (one did not think much at all). This new guy thinks of all these. That's what a boss should be like, right?
It's going to end badly. There's no possible good ending. The plant manager is a world-class second-guesser, and a definite national champion blame-affixer. The folks who do well in the management ranks are butt-kissing lackeys - the ones with ability have been run off or are hunkered down, unwilling to do or say anything of value. Is the old guy optimistic and wily, or just optimistic. If he's the latter, you can bet you will soon see me lamenting about bosses number 6 and 7...
OK - a postscript. The plant manager ran this boss off because (get this) "he was a poor manager." Wh-wh-what? He was a really good manager. He was a poor micro-manager. He didn't know all the intricate details of what was going on, because he was (you know) managing. But the plant manager wanted to know all the details because he (and his bosses) were MICRO-managers. (Sigh) All's well that ends well, because the boss got a much more lucrative job at a location that suited him much better. Sometimes there is justice. Oh, and the plant manager was sent back to AAA ball shortly thereafter...
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