Story 138

Thank you Story 135/136, you’re story helps me realize I’m not crazy and that this system is built to drive away talent.

There seem to be no standards or expectations of managers other than that they were loyal to their managers and not a threat to their career. This leads to one ineffective leader cascading down the management line only getting more ineffective until it reaches the lowest IC who, if hard-working and competent, can never succeed at Citi.

I have been told by an MD that I’m always too many steps ahead of the rest of the team. One may think, that’s a good thing! My efforts have been recognized by senior leadership. But alas, no, they was saying I need to slow down so my manager will stop taking out their anger on me.

The system tells us that it is very difficult to get promoted and the best way to get ahead is to apply for open positions. If attempting to apply for an open position on your team, they will put your current manager on the panel. So unless you are lucky to find the rare, competent, secure manager that actually has the guts to really go to bat for their team, you’re out of luck. Even if you’re manager is good to you, it is very difficult to get one of their directs a promotion and how many of them would risk so much political capital? Then, my favorite, is if a position opens up on a team at the same level as the manager, that same manager will be on the interview panel. So unless, again, you have the rare super manager who truly wants whats best for their employees, even if that means losing them, they’re not going to let you pass the interview screen.

No one questions the power given to managers here. No one thinks these things are a conflict of interest. This is why so many good employees are leaving. Their entire career is in the hands of a person who there’s a high likelihood was not qualified to be a manager (or given any training to become a manager).