Story 367
A co-worker told me a certain Managing Director “hated me because I came from the team” that she had just taken over.
I had made the productive and professional choice to leave that team due to undermining, bullying, retaliation and incompetent management.
When she attempted to block my transfer (which had already been agreed with her N+1), I shared with her that I would make a formal HR complaint against the director I was escaping from. The MD told the director about it, and my 1:1 meetings dropped off the calendar.
Because she had already taken the side of the director without ever getting to know me, or discussing the problems with me, and I chose to escape that a toxic environment, she targeted me with personal animosity.
That vendetta manifested in an unwarranted poor performance review designed to freeze me out and constructively dismiss me from the group.
A true leader’s responsibility is to foster a safe, productive, and professional environment, not to harbor petty vendettas or retaliate against employees who refuse to tolerate abuse, and seek a healthier, more productive path for themselves.
These actions form the textbook definition of retaliatory abuse of power that weaponizes leadership authority to protect poor management practices at the expense of employee well-being.
The MD has since moved to Citi’s CDO from ERM Product.