Carol had become invested in the management course. Probably a good thing since she’s terrible at managing people. Of course managing through fear gets results and gets them fast. Sometimes it’s the last resort you have, but it’s a toxic method that erodes morale too much over time. You need to know when to use the carrot and when the stick is required. I only ever worked for one truly competent manager and he never used the stick except on one employee. He would have extended screaming matches with one guy because that was the only thing he understood. The guy always thought he was right and it was nearly impossible to convince him otherwise. The only thing you could do was yell until he relented. And the thing was the guy was a good enough worker that the manager would tolerate it all because once you lined him out you could leave him alone for extended periods and he would self motivate. He was a decent guy, he just believed himself to be much better than he actually was. A very common failing. Eventually he did have to be fired because the fights were getting so out of hand that it was cartoonishly ridiculous. I was sad to see him go in spite of it all because you could depend on if to manage himself if he believed what he was doing was correct. I used to run into him from time to time and he always seemed to be doing fine. I think at some point, if he could get out of his own way, he would be a good manager, but I don’t know if he ever got there. He was the kind of guy who really needed to be his own boss. I think if he ever found a way to do that he would thrive. Or perhaps fail and learn enough humility to succeed the next time.

I always had the problem of seeming smarter than I am and then having to convince people not to depend on me too much. Many times I would say “I can’t do this.” and would be ignored. That’s why I eventually left Hastings. I kept getting promoted past my level of ability. Getting forced into a promotion when you know you can do the thing they want you to do is extremely unpleasant. I was always so surprised how my aura of competence could so completely fool people even when I was expressly stating that they were judging me too kindly.

Anyway, I’m right about where I belong now. Banished to my little corner of the internet where it’s too inconvenient to try and get me. The safety of obscurity. If you’d like to help me maintain my tiny kingdom there are support links above the post, as always, if you’re a regular I hope your week starts of nicely. Come see me on Wednesday if it pleases. I look forward to it.

Posts authored by Jackie

2708 Secretariat.