We all know at least one person at work who’s…….not great. They make mistake after mistake, act like jerks, gossip, bring negative energy and seem totally incapable of doing any job well, let alone a job in upper management. “They’re so stupid, a trained monkey could do a better job!“. Dumb managers and coworkers are so common that it’s a storyline repeated all over TV and movies. We can all relate to this regardless of industry and geographic location and in that, we at least have each other. But it does beg the question – how does this keep happening? Why do idiots get promoted? In this article, we’re talking about 7 common reasons why this is the case.
Why Do Idiots Get Promoted? 7 Reasons To Consider
So why do idiots get promoted, exactly? Here are some common situations that foster this pattern at work:
- Family Or Buddy-Buddy Connections
- Sucking Up To Their Bosses
- They Don’t Care About Camaraderie
- They Won’t Hesitate To Step On Others
- Embed Themselves So Deep That It’s Difficult To Fire Them
- Really Good At ‘Talking The Talk’ (B.S. Artists)
- They’ve Drank The ‘Company Kool-Aid’
Let’s go through the details of each.
1. Family & Buddy-Buddy Connections
“It’s all about who you know“.
In business, networking is important. People are more willing to hire someone they know over someone they don’t.
When it comes to getting promoted, few things aid this process more than a family or buddy-buddy connection.
I’m sure you’ve heard at least one of the statements below at work:
“That’s the bosses’ kid, they’ll be running the place one day“.
“So-and-so’s father is good friends with the boss, they’re practically family“.
“She’s the bosses’ niece. She never gets any work done and leaves early every day, but she NEVER gets in trouble.”
It’s unfair to say that anyone with a family or buddy-buddy connection is a bad employee, but it’s a big reason why idiots get promoted – bosses and managers feel social pressure to give promotions to the people they’re personally connected to. Sad but true.
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2. Sucking Up To Their Bosses
Ah, the classic ‘brown noser’. They do whatever it takes to get someone else’s approval. Why? The reasons are plentiful. At work, it’s always to get something out of it themselves – money, better assignments, promotions, etc.
A big reason why idiots get promoted is because they aren’t seen as an idiot by the person that matters most – the boss.
The boss likes fishing? So does the brown noser, all of a sudden. The manager likes celebrity gossip? Guess who’s now texting or emailing them about the latest news.
The brown noser essentially creates a buddy-buddy connection with the boss – see section 1.
It doesn’t just stop at person interests, either. A brown noser will say exactly what they ‘should’ say in a meeting when the manager is speaking. They won’t hesitate to talk about what a great job the boss is doing. In short, they’ll constantly seek the approval of their boss.
Playing into ‘office politics’ isn’t always bad, but it goes from savvy to pathetic pretty quick.
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3. They Don’t Care About Camaraderie
The majority of people you work with will want to show up, have a decent relationship with you and other coworkers, do their jobs and leave on time. No drama, no games, no animosity.
Unfortunately, being the manager and being liked by coworkers is a fine balance to strike. It’s not impossible of course – many managers are respected, liked and taken seriously by their employees. But it’s not easy.
One thing that keeps people from getting promoted is the difficulty of transitioning from an equal relationship with coworkers to that of a manager. Said another way, becoming the new boss of work friends can be uncomfortable and awkward.
This challenge is one that simply must be overcome in order to get promoted. I know I’ve struggled plenty with it.
What about those coworkers who don’t care about exerting power over others? More specifically, those people who won’t hesitate to point out a mistake, discipline someone for a minor infraction or lay down the law?
This is an advantage when it comes to being promoted. Some people simply aren’t ‘inhibited’ by the need to maintain camaraderie and in turn, don’t hesitate to act like the boss.
The boss doing the promoting might even promote someone because of this ability. This is a big reason why idiots get promoted – they can be the boss, whether they’re right or wrong, and just not care what anyone thinks.
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4. Won’t Hesitate To Step On Others
Much in line with the previous section, many employees won’t hesitate to step on other coworkers in order to get ahead – even if they only get ahead because someone else falls behind.
It’s a mystery as to why someone can be incompetent at doing their job, but are very good at doing this. Maybe it’s just hard-wired into their psyche. For whatever reason, hurting coworkers to get ahead is a big reason why idiots get promoted – they find a way to look good, even if it’s by comparison!
Stepping on others comes in many forms. A person may spread a rumor or gossip about a coworker behind their back in front of ‘the right people’.
A dumb (but conniving) employee can take credit for an idea or work that another person did, effectively hijacking the victory all for themselves.
Coworkers with bad-intentions often know how to deflect blame away from themselves, so their hands seem clean after a mistake surfaces.
To us normal folk, it’s forever a mystery as to why these types of people don’t just put that brainpower into doing better-quality work…
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5. Embed Themselves So Deep That It’s Difficult To Fire Them
Dumb employees might be a pain to deal with, but it could be an even bigger pain to get rid of them!
A common but not-often-discussed reason why idiots get promoted is because firing them would be worse – they’ve planted themselves in a nice little hole in the organization and have established roots too deep to pull out without a lot of trouble.
This sounds a little abstract, so here are some examples for how a bad employee can effectively take their boss hostage.
PROMOTED
A salesperson could be a terrible manager and coworker, but they personally manage a lot of clients. Firing this employee could result in them badmouthing the company and taking those clients with them to their next job. As long as they continue to bring in business, they get promoted instead.
An employee may spearhead a task or project that no one else wants to do. If they threaten to leave, their boss freaks out – it’ll be seriously painful to have that position go unoccupied, search for a replacement and then have to train that new person. Giving this employee a raise or promotion becomes the lesser of two evils in comparison.
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6. Really Good At ‘Talking The Talk’ (B.S. Artists)
A smooth talker does not always equal a smooth walker. We all know at least one bulls*** artist at work – the one who always seems to stay in a positive light no matter what happens. The one who can pretend to be busy, say all the right things and seem like they’re the perfect employee…except they’re not!
These types of people survive solely on their ability to appear to be great.
I’ve got a personal example. We had a field superintendent (construction) who went out of his way to describe himself as a team player. He’ll do whatever it takes to get the job done. He’s on top of it. Consider it done, whatever ‘it’ happens to be. He’s the type of guy to do what it takes. He said it so often, it was almost as if he was trying to convince himself.
When it came down to it, he was anything but that. Every single thing I asked him to do would take forever. His paperwork and personal organization was a mess. I’d have to chase him down for basic stuff. I started just doing things myself instead of asking him. He always blamed another project’s workload as to why he was behind. Sure enough, he’d blame my project as the reason he’s behind on other people’s work.
He didn’t get promoted, per se, but he knew what we (Project Managers) wanted to hear. He also knew what upper management wanted to hear and began gaining popularity with them simply by pointing out all the things we should be doing better as a company. Not that he was doing any of them. I’m sure he’d have an excuse as to why he wasn’t.
In terms of issues, he kicks the can down the road from one week to the next on every project, verbally jujitsuing himself out of binds, barely hanging on. He only got fired because my manipulative boss was an even worse bulls*** artist and this superintendent called him out on it.
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7. They’ve Drank The ‘Company Kool-Aid’
I’m all for being an asset at your organization. Having team spirit and pride in the place you work are great qualities.
Then there are the ‘corporate drones’. The ones that Office Space mocks with such comedic genius.
These corporate types are more than just dedicated employees – they’re walking, talking corporate robots who are incapable of thinking outside of the standard operating procedure.
They instead pledge their allegiance blindly to the corporate flag. Anything management says, they do – regardless of how little it makes sense. They never question it and defend their orders with vigor.
These types of employees brown nose their managers when they issue directives, abandon their teammates when upper management looks at their department unfavorably and won’t hesitate to take sides with a manager when another person is at fault.
A big reason why idiots get promoted at corporations is their ability to just be whoever they’re expected to be and do what’s asked of them without question, even if what management wants is not actually good for the company at all. Blind faith!
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Why Idiots Get Promoted: In Summary
For the record, many promotions are well-deserved. Many mangers are competent and great at what they do. That said, why is it that we all have a bad boss or idiot coworker story?
How many times have you heard about a manager or employee making a costly mistake, but not get fired due to one of the reasons above?
How many times have you heard of several decent employees leaving an organization because of one bad manager?
The sad irony behind why idiots get promoted is that they’re often not actually good for the company at all. Instead, they prey on human nature – the bosses who do the promoting are human after all! They know what to say and how to act, which is apparently good enough in many cases.
At least you know what to look for, what to avoid and what not to be like! Thanks for reading.
