To think the professional world is full of middle aged men of very average abilities who still seem to have gone far

A male colleague of mine (yes - useless, entitled, white, middle aged) once said he only needed to bring his A-game to work one day a year. On the day he negotiated his annual salary. And he did.

Ah 'tell people what they want to hear' AKA liars, cowards.

I think you'll find the technical term for this phenomenon is "Shit floats"

Totally agree. It's SO FUCKING DEPRESSING.

Wow that’s sort of amazing!!

YES. Cindy Gallop has amazing talks about this as well.

You're not unreasonable, just became aware of reality

Totally agree. Just coming to the end of a contract with a large bank.
The boss is a delightful chap, who probably has a lot of knowledge in certain areas (not necessarily related to the work we are doing) but couldn't manage his way out of a paper bag.
In 18 months there have been at least 3 reorganisations, which were never properly communicated. No direction either tactical or strategic and he complains constantly that none of his direct reports actually reported anything to him. Hmm.
He has now been moved sideways (in favour of a female, who will become much more senior over the next year).
Luckily I am far too old to worry about any of this corporate crap, so I am out of there at the end of the month and off to sunnier climes over Christmas and New Year :-)

Its amazing he has an A game to bring. Most of them aren't witholding their talents, they just don't have any.

Absolutely. In fact, I’m just about to leave my job because of them. We’ve brought some transformation director in on 90k for 3 days a week and all he’s doing is asking us how he thinks things should be and then passing it all off as his own ground breaking ideas!!

Meanwhile women like me who just get shit done are begging for pay rises and being told there is no money…..

I went and got myself another job in a team of women and I can’t wait 😂

YANBU. I’ve worked in the City for a decade, and have seen this A LOT. I was in political roles before that and you’ll be shocked to hear that it was just as bad.

It makes me really angry when I see how hard really talented senior women have had to graft to get to the same level as mediocre men.

Our current (male) MD is hugely disorganised, does no physical work of his own as far as I can discern, once got me to rewrite a board paper for him - his version was shit! I suspect he has ADHD; half the time his mind is all over the place- and yet, he’s survived three CEOs, massive restructure, loads of company changes. It’s just galling.

Look in the education sector..., we're already there with the middle aged (and even younger) white women doing equally as well (or as poorly) as the white men....depressing how it's those who talk the talk and act a certain way make it to senior leadership in schools - despite falling apart when faced with a Year 9 class on a Friday afternoon. It's all about saying the right thing and acting like you care so much about the children, when in reality all you care about is your own self-promotion.

👏👏👏👏👏👏

It's depressing. I worked with a man who was inexplicably head of purchasing. With zero business acumen or even basic problem solving or negotiating skills. He would scream and shout all day that his computer wasn't working. When in reality he was holding his wireless mouse upside down. And repeat.

Wow, what a unique point, never ever made when people start talking about the well documented factual inequality of white men over everyone else. /s

I'm picking up the pieces of a shitty male boss who has just been promoted. I was given a lot of his work as a "develop opportunity"...

I honestly don't know how he filled 40 hours a week. Seems to have mostly walked around holding a piece of paper and being "a lovely man". There is a nickname that everyone apparently knew he had alluding to this laziness, but it's never ever been addressed.

I honestly feel torn about whether to whistleblow about it, but I've no idea who to. It feels like he's committed fraud with public money - stolen a big fat paycheck on the back of a lie and a facade.

I'm so angry.

It’s the ability to bullshit and have 100 per cent confidence in yourself while the little lady lays the table…..,

Totally agree with this. It’s outrageous

Exactly - one of the many reasons I left my previous job last year. I was at the company 15 years and worked my way from assistant to senior manager - the boss wouldn't make me a director because, in his words 'noses would be put out of joint'. I progressed only because i was the best of the best - sometimes working 80 hour weeks. And my male peers resented me so much, they were more committed to seeing me fail than seeing the company succeed. 2 years after I left( and took my clients with me, )they're still at a failing company (the boss sold it and all the decent employees left) and they're still blaming me for their failures. Ladies, ask for payrises, if you don't get them, jump ship - no man will ever thank you or congratulate you. Apparently the idiot who replaced me regularly asks "how did she do it?"

You're not wrong OP. My old boss put a lucrative contract in jeopardy because he decided to go on a bender the day it was supposed to be signed. And he fired our most competent temp out of jealousy.
He's now a councillor.

Education is full of these mediocre men....

😂

Yes so true and it really annoys me. Lots of people just get on by not actually doing any work but just bullsh**ing their way through and talking a good talk, and it’s only men who seem to be able to get away with this. Other people pick up the slack. Also the job hopping, stay in a senior role for 2 years, deliver nothing or reorg for the sake of it then move on

I used to HATE this in my old job! The stale, pale white males who were lazy and incompetent, had been there for years in senior positions but couldn't deliver. I work for a company now that's only 7 years old and has a lot of 30s women in senior positions and it's fantastic. Two of the 3 directors are men, but they are intelligent, proactive good leaders and have no problem hiring and promoting talented women and men, instead of focusing on people like them.

Yes, you only have to look at our current MPs and government...

I think one of the reasons is that so many of these men are over-confident, deluded about their skills and able to over-sell themselves at interviews.

So they get hired and promoted based on words rather than actual achievements but the reality is that they are mediocre at best when it comes to doing the job.

Women still tend not to do that: they are more likely to be reluctant to shout about their achievements at interviews or when asking for promotions.

Of course there is also the fact that middle-aged white men will mainly hire and promote other middle-aged white men.