Dan 7: Dan & The Incoming Boss - Wrong things to do

[A Note from The Cube: Check back to November 24th to see where Dan last was.]

The new VP is arriving in a couple of weeks and I'm thinking that Dan the Hyper-Active Boss Man is not handling this well.

Let's put it this way: Dan has every right to feel skunked, yes, since the new Prez had Dan interview the incoming VP as if the interview were for a subordinate manager. And then, it turns out, the soon-to-come Veep was the new Prez's former right hand man. Soooo.... I dunno what Dan said in that interview, but the way you talk to a potential subordinate is waaay different than the way you speak to a probable new boss.

But that is the past. The new Vice President is soon a-comin' and Dan held a meeting last week to inform us about it. "Us" being the managers under Dan and The Cube (by default, as the one taking notes at department manager meetings).

So what was Dan thinking when he started in by insulting the new Veep's name?! "His name's Jed Cumber - you know, like that hillbilly Jed Clampett. Spits a lot I hear. Stupid as a hillbilly, too." It would be nice to report that Dan was saying this with a twinkle in his eye and a joke in his chuckle. Instead, it was more like a serious critique and the eye was deadly.

Not helped by Dan adding: "After I interviewed him, my recommendation was not to hire: he knows shit about what we do." Oh, yeah: that mitigated the vitriol.

Wisely, halfway into his twenty minute introduction along the lines of "we'll have cover for him till he gets up to speed, if he ever does - or can," Dan added: "This is all confidential, of course, everything I'm telling you." CON-FI-DEN-TIAL. That's how he wrote it on the whiteboard.

No Machiavelli me, even I could see that half the room was populated by managers who thought they should have had Dan's job based on their seniority back a few years ago before he arrived. And, now, he's looking for their sympathy?

And the other half of the room? Well, quite a few, like The Cube, studied our shoelaces quite intently. The Cube likes Dan the Hyper-Active Boss Man: he's a smart fast intelligent guy, demanding but fair, rough on the edges but soft in heart.

And, now, stupid as a rock. This is the wrong thing to do. Oh so wrong.