The Competence of Being Incompetent

For the most part, I can honestly say that I like my job. The company has a very down-to-earth atmosphere (possibly because it's privately-owned), most of the people are very charming and easy to talk to (including the best COO I've ever come in contact with), I'm always learning new things, and there is plenty of room for growth and opportunity.

But like every job, there are some things that I don't like. And for me, my main issue is my supervisor. Granted, she's a nice woman, but for the life of me, I cannot ascertain why/how she became a supervisor. Shit, just being nice ain't gonna cut it in Corporate America! At her previous place of employment (which she reminds me of at least once a month), she wasn't even remotely any type of supervisory role. She was a plain old worker. In my 2 years of being under her "leadership" (for lack of a better word), I have watched her crash and burn from instances ranging from telephone conferences to meetings. She can't even type a simple e-mail without asking me how the grammar and spelling are (OK, chalk that up to her being originally from India, but that's a mute point. She's been in the U.S. over 10 damn years now; no sympathy here lol). But in even greater instances, our department manager (her direct boss) frequently has to tell or remind her of things she needs to be taking care of as a supervisor, since his hands are tied with so many other things. Sometimes I just sit and laugh to myself about my manager chewing out my supervisor about what she did or more frequently, didn't do. I swear, it's pure comedy most times lol. My supervisor seriously lacks effective leadership, technical, and interpersonal skills. And she's reactive rather than proactive. A few times, I've had to take it upon myself to present and handle things myself rather than wait on her to make a decision, and it's paid off. (And it also boosts up my employee goals/accomplishments for the year.)

So today as I perused CNN.com like I do most days, I came across an interesting link to the Time Web site entitled "Competence: Is Your Boss Faking It?" Click here if you wish to read the article in its entirety. I think this article was pretty much reading everyone's mind who has ever had to report to a boss. How many times have we said to ourselves (or another coworker, friend, etc.) that our boss can't possibly be as incompetent as they are? How much bullshit did they talk to land them on top of the heap? Hell, do they even know or remember the bullshit they talked to land them on top of the heap?

A few years ago, I read a book called "Work Would Be Great If It Weren't for the People." But in this case, wouldn't work be great if it weren't for (incompetent) bosses? Can Congress include that in the stimulus package? LOL