Our department was headed by a SVP who reported to an EVP.
The Executive Vice President was a woman I'll call Sandy, who worked in the executive offices in Columbus, Ohio. She "managed" several departments for Bank One which probably employed several thousand people. She had direct access to Bank One's Board of Directors and reported to the CEO. This was not an insignificant position. At that point I believe Bank One employed approximately 80K people. Sandy probably managed over 10% of that number.
Meanwhile, back in our department I worked with a lady I'll refer to as Dorothy. Dorothy was a VP in our department. As an AVP, she outranked me but we reported to the same SVP. Dorothy was a black lady just a few years older than me. She was amazingly smart, very professional and fun to work with. And yes, I realize that nearly everyone but tellers had "Vice President" in their title in one way or another whether they deserved it or not.
In our department we travelled about one week every month. This was back in the good old banking days, which meant traveling included dining at great restaurants, ordering appetizers, dinner, desserts and perhaps more than a few "adult" beverages. As a group we all got to be good friends and enjoyed working together.
One night we were discussing the reputation of Sandy. Although I had not encountered Sandy yet, it was well known the incompetence of this "executive".
Dorothy related to me one meeting where our department SVP was at a standstill over a pretty contentious issue in a meeting with another SVP. Quite frankly our SVP was an idiot and his peer was the one on the right side of the issue. During the meeting, both guys realized they were not going to come to an agreement so it was up to Sandy to make an executive decision.
They turned to her and said, "Sandy, apparently this is your call."
Wanna know Sandy's response?
In a high-school cheerleader tone she said, "Gee guys, why do you leave all the hard decisions up to me?"
There were several other stories that made it all the way down the ranks of Sandy's lack of professionalism and competence. That included a "Fairwell" meeting involving one of her direct reports, Sam. Sam stood about 5'5". He was a guy in his late 30's at the time and was incredibly brilliant. Sam was seeing the writing on the wall that Bank One was about to take a hard hit. At the same time, he had a lot of connections with some people with significant cash. He was leaving the company to start his own. A company I joined less than a year later.
Apparently during the fairwell meeting, Sandy came up behind a much shorter Sam and placed her hands upon his shoulders and said to the crowd of several hundred, "This little man will be missed at Bank One." It's a testament to Sam that he didn't turn around and slug her.
I finally got the "pleasure" of seeing Sandy in action one day during a meeting in an audience held in a large facility in a hotel. She spoke for about 20 minutes. I have never been so embarrased to be a female in my life.
It was like being in a business audience where an average looking Suzanne Somers addressed the crowd.
I spent the entire meeting in a facepalmed position wondering why Bank One would have such a dingbat among it's top executives.
I knew the answer. They needed a token woman at the top.
I still wonder why they would pick such an idiot when they could have promoted someone like Dorothy, a very intelligent black woman who would actually know how to manage such a large group of people and would have added to the intellect of the Board Meetings.
Promotions should be based on the best candidates. Hiring should be based on the best candidate. Women are not so incompetent that they need to be promoted solely based upon their gender.
That mindset is offensive to competent women. Thankfully, Sandy was the only example in my entire career that fits that token model. I hope she's enjoying her not-deserved well financed retirement by now. I'd hate to think she's still working providing a shining example of why token hiring and promotions should not be practiced.
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8 comments:
Why and how? She swallowed!
Nah. Doubt that Coffey. She was the classic example of the Peter Principle, promoted above her level of competence. I would estimate her level of competence topped out at emptying the trash cans.
But that would be an insult to the cleaning crew.
Man, Rita..what a story. Very well told, by the way, and great images!
I'm surprised they hadn't given the job to Dorothy. Smart, lovely, common sense and a minority; they had it made with her. SOme dope was probably a racist and couldn't face giving her the position she deserved THROUGH HER INTELLIGENCE AND GRACE.
Well, that is, if YOU couldn't have it! :-)
Just read your TODAY IN INDIANA post and loved it, too!
I'm so happy about your new job! Congratulations, Rita! Terrific! All the best...sounds like a good start.
No, I couldn't have handled it. My talents lie elsewhere.
Sandy was in her position long before Dorothy, so it wasn't a question that Dorothy had been passed over, it was just that Sandy apparently had connections that far exceeded her ability.
When our department was disbanded, Dorothy was offered a great position in Columbus at a party. While sitting next to her husband, Dorothy explained she couldn't leave Indianapolis when her husband said, "Now, don't decide so fast." After the full details were on the table, she and her husband discussed it and they moved to Columbus.
I do hope by now Dorothy is enjoying HER well-earned retirement. She was heads above all of her direct managers.
I hated to see her go, but the department was falling apart quickly as Bank One was suffering through some bad times. I missed her last day, so I always regret not being able to say goodbye to her and telling her how much I respected her.
We see this in government all the time. Waves of political appointments have made my office a mess.
There is one low class supervisor who actually takes off time with her fellow employees called BFT. In BFT Black Women discuss there personal issues while the rest of us are expected to work till we drop.
It is rare that I lose my temper. I am also very dedicated and will work when very ill. I came to work sick and dealt with a supervisor talking on the phone for two hours
about personal crap while trying to get it done. On top of this her social graces are non existent. I decided to take the rest of the day off and when you have 200 plus hours of vacation time and close to 400 sick time my reputation took no hit.
Nepotism and incompetence are serious issues and the government needs more efforts to combat cronyism. People should not be allowed to work in the same agency as immediate relatives. It has been a disaster where I work
Of course it only makes sense it's worse in government, doesn't it Beak? I've known people who've worked for government contractors and readily admit their work product was never implemented.
They'd finish a programming job, deliver it to Navy and the Navy would not implement it. They'd then ask for the same application written in a different programming language.
There have been tales of some of the ships pushing gigantic, fully functioning equipment off the sides of the ships because it was budget time and they wanted to make sure they used up the funds so they wouldn't be cut next year.
And we wonder why the government has become so bloated.
Corporations seem to go through a period of creating too many layers of management and a few years later flattening it again.
The market eventually drives it to be more efficient.
No need for efficiency in the govenment, they just keep increasing and increasing.
What you describe isn't confined to the banking system, or federal and state bureaucracies. What you described could easily pertain to any high school, school district, and most colleges in this country. And this explains why our young people are the best educated morons in the world.
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