Make it spicy with a mic drop moment

Chaotic Advice: A reader asks how to handle her new incompetent manager

“Dear Chaos Demon,

My boss was fired and now my job is a hellscape. She was really more of a mentor and the only person in the organization who knew anything about my field. My new manager is a joke. He somehow holds both contempt for my profession and the staggering belief that he’s fully capable of doing the job. His confidence in spite of his incompetence is almost impressive. Part of me wants to quit and go travelling or write a book or something, but I also feel like I’d be stupid to leave my job in this economy. He’s actively making my day-to-day worse and I’m not sure how much longer I can handle it, or what I would do if I left. I generally feel undervalued and like there’s no way for a woman to win at this company. What should I do?”

- This Department’s on Fire

Dear Department’s on Fire,

I’m sorry your mentor was fired and replaced by what sounds like the World’s Most Mediocre Man. I wish it weren’t, but I fear this is a tale as old as time. Get a smart woman to build out a program that performs. Then replace her with a very confident man and watch the program burn and wonder what happened. It’s stupid, because no one benefits from this—not you, your team, or the company. But alas, here we are.

As long as leadership devalues your role, you can’t win. You can do your very best, but if there’s no respect for the function, there won’t be any appreciation for the results. Sure, sticking around is probably the smartest thing you can do in this economy. But depending on what field you’re in (I’m going to guess communications, because, of course) you’re probably also going to see cuts to your budget. So unless you can get rid of this guy, you’re going to be living in a world of working hurt for the foreseeable future.

I think there’s a way you can win and dance in the flames here.