When you can't do anything without your boss seeing you as a threat, what's the point in trying? If you know more than them about something, suddenly it’s a problem. They’d rather keep things mediocre than let anyone shine. It’s exhausting trying to work around that kind of insecurity. I thought Dell was better than this. The last year proved me very wrong.
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It's been going on a LONG time. Not recent at all - look at this thread: https://www.thelayoff.com/t/1jqfnyd8v
We had a manager who led through fear and intimidation. He placed numerous team members on Performance Improvement Plans without clear justification—at one point, half the team was on a PIP. He drove away some of the top talent due to his insecurity and apparent efforts to find reasons to terminate high-performing employees. To attract new hires, the company had to offer unusually high salaries because few people wanted to work under him. Despite repeated complaints to HR, no action was taken. Eventually, he left—and the entire team cheered up.
If there are obvious problems with your manager, then open an HR ticket, however be careful, some managers will use it to terminate your employment, and you will have to fight with HR to file a complain on retaliation laws (title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964).
No manager should be allowed to go unchecked and act like an absolute a--hole.
Good luck.
Man up, petal.