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Picture this: you’re a data analyst working for a financial firm, and everything seems to be going great; you’re smashing targets and beating deadlines, and you’re being recognized for your hard work and dedication… until you get a new line manager who steals your work and undermines your presentations!
What do you do? For one savvy employee, revenge was the answer.
This is the story of how one Reddit user (OP) took matters into her own hands and had a loud last laugh.
Insecure or Insensitive?
OP’s new manager would go through her presentation slides before each meeting to approve them, then switch directions in the actual meeting in front of the board of directors and ask purposefully challenging questions in these meetings, making her look bad. However, when OP discovered that her manager was taking her presentation and delivering it himself privately to take credit, she decided to take matters into her own hands.
For the next meeting, OP included random, unrelated slides in the PowerPoint presentation, which her manager overlooked during their rehearsal meeting. During the actual conference, the board was surprised to see a picture of a baby kangaroo in the middle of the projected Q3 earnings, followed by a regional analysis of the bare chest of Tom Brady. The final slide was a bikini pic of the CEO’s daughter taken from her Instagram, which led to the manager’s downfall. The board transferred him to a more junior position, while the poster was promoted to his vacated role.
The comments in the thread were filled with stories of bosses who take credit for their employees’ work and how it can lead to negative consequences. One commenter shared how their former boss tried to humiliate them in front of the board and the CEO and how that backfired quickly!
“SO many managers do this! My former boss tried to ask a pointed question when I presented to the finance committee of the board, and the CEO quickly intervened and said, “shouldn’t you know the answer to that question? It is your division…why don’t you tell the committee the answer”.
Another commenter talked about a boss who took credit for everything their team did and never gave credit, which caused employee resentment.
“There used to be someone at a former job who took credit for everything his team did and never gave credit. I wasn’t on his team, but I knew what was going on, and I hated him for it.
I forgot he did become my boss for a short stint. I made sure to be in every meeting where he would present my stuff, and when he started to take credit, I’d speak up about what I did.
As a manager now, I love praising the efforts of my team and how awesome they are. They did the work; they get the credit. Where are my accolades? On running an incredible team, ensuring everything runs smoothly / guiding people on projects. I don’t need to act like I’m carrying the team; that’s not my role.”
The Power of Good Leadership
The lesson here is clear: managers who take credit for their employees’ work will inevitably be caught and suffer the consequences.
“On the flip side, 90% of most jobs aren’t making yourself look good; it’s making your manager look good.
This requires a manager who’ll pass on the credit to you for the actual work, but ideally, you want your manager’s job to be as little as possible beyond acting as a middleman between you and the rest of the business – protecting you from deception while presenting your work back. Sadly, this kind of symbiosis is extremely rare, but when it works, it’s beautiful.”
OP’s petty revenge story is a cautionary tale for anyone who thinks they can get away with taking credit for someone else’s work.
Have you ever worked with an insecure, credit-stealing boss? Were they ever caught? Were you tempted to take fate into your own hands?
Let us know in the comments, or join the conversation here.
MAN LEFT FUMING AFTER HIS WIFE REFUSES TO ATTEND STEPDAUGHTER’S WEDDING!
Source: Reddit