My boss Jim was the ultimate used car sales guy. In meetings with customers and potentials he'd make up stories on the fly about our capabilities, lead times and cost. It was literally impossible to keep a straight face.
Johanna the People Boss seemed like the nicest, most employee supportive HR manager I'd ever met. Until I witnessed an engineer pull her aside after a meeting to discuss a confidential issue re the CEO. Soon as he walked away she walked up to CEO and literally told him exactly what was said. The engineer was gone a couple weeks later.
Meeting with our CFO was always fun. Brita couldn't read a PandL or figure overhead on a proposal. Never did figure out how she got the job tbh.
Now for the big cheese, Dan the man Hart. This dude takes the cake, always getting in the middle of engineering and overcomplicating what should've been simple processes. Changing direction daily sometimes literally within an hour. Sat in meetings where he tells us we've only got a couple months of cash left, then tells us were spending $30K on a party. Was a middle manager at boeing but he'd never really run a business, so we were always playing firefighter as he was trying to burn the company to the ground. On the personal, he's a cool dude to talk to, an have a beer with, but he's got no business being the Chief of anything.
There are soooo many other examples of the dumpster fire these people stoked. Just RUN the other way, if you see any of these "leaders" at a company you're thinkin bout joining.
