Last Wednesday after delivering my final month-end reports, I resigned from my role. I didn’t quit because of the workload. I didn’t quit because of burnout. I didn’t quit because of the company’s vision or some personal entitlement.
I quit because of the recent hires I was forced to work with.
Specifically, the senior managers being brought in who didn’t understand the very basics of managing their book of business. After three months of working with them, I was getting frustrated and made this clear to everyone lateral and above. These new people coming to me and other managers for every single task related to numbers. And I don’t mean the weeds of financial modeling or tax structures. I don’t know any of that either.. I mean the basics that every senior leader should be able to interpret: foundational files that sit beneath every budget and management report.
In our org, we mostly interact with budgets and forecasts through our internal systems. They’re the tools that tell us how much we can spend, what revenue we’re targeting, and whether we’re tracking against plan. But those budgets are only as good as the financial statements they roll up from.
What killed me was sitting in our meetings where these new hires couldn’t connect the dots. These were people who apparently came from relatively large orgs. They would pull some of us aside to look at a budget variance report showing “positive performance” and then be confused when the CFO explained why cash flow was negative. Or in another instance they’d OPENLY celebrate revenue growth without realizing gross margin was eroding, which meant our operating margin was shrinking quarter over quarter.
It’s one thing to read a dashboard. It’s another to understand what sits behind it.
Chris didn’t make me quit.
Chris isn’t actually his name but maybe he’ll read this one day and know this is about him. I’m a team player and I want everyone within our team to look good. It’s a reflection of us as a team to everyone we engage with. I faced mild embarrassment at times from our own team when oChris asked why we couldn’t “just spend down the marketing budget since it was approved” without realizing his receivables were stretched out and his book literally didn’t have the cash in hand. Another time he didn’t understand why a business unit with 55% gross margin was still operating at a net loss because overhead and SG&A were climbing faster than revenue. Ok fine, maybe that could be beyond him but he should make some effort in figuring it out instead of throwing his hands up and saying, “who can I get to figure this out for me?” on a call with vendors.
To me, these weren’t trick questions but it was evident they lacked fundamentals. And when the people making multimillion-dollar decisions can’t read the reports behind the budget, it’s like flying a jet with pilots who only know how to read the fuel gauge and nothing else.
I’m a tactfully direct person when necessary, so I had a serious conversation with Chris about working with him and his current capability. He expressed sympathy and mild humility but didn’t end the conversation to do anything to change the situation. He was clearly working me in the conversation which is comedic because, “Who you think you trying to play, Chris?”
A couple of weeks went by and he’s still having us managers handle some of his book. I raised this problem to our leadership and promises were said but not kept.
Here’s what I mean by Chris didn’t make me quit. What made me quit was my leadership team’s response after my last time expressing concerns. Even they were tired of hearing from us managers and their blunt conclusion was: Be a team player.
Bro, I have my own job to do. I ain’t doing his too.
Also, didn’t we win some employer of the year award thing last year??? Sure doesn’t feel like it.
I talked to the other managers about this. Some have seen this far too often. There’s a trend some companies go through where supposed high performance people get hired who have zero financial fluency to shake up top line performance. Then finance teams will start getting invited to every meeting as a debating member to highlight financial points these "performers" don’t understand. So we’re adding steps to the process is what it sounds like. They don't have the need or luxury to resign like I can. They have personal responsibilities and I get that. I gave them heads up because my departure will only spread out more work to everyone.
Why I had to leave:
I like my team, the work, most of the clients, and the banner I represented. I wasn’t quitting the company itself. The company can hire whoever they want. But when their hires impact my function and role, it’s a problem. I don’t care if these two people weren't qualified to be in those roles. But allowing them to abuse my own time AND not compensate me for it, that’s disrespectful. Whether the leadership knew or not, we couldn’t just deny helping them because we share some budgets. This was leveraged whether it was intentional or not.
I don’t mind being the person people come to for “homework help,” but months of this with no end in sight is absurd. Even though the irony is that as a kid, I was the one asking classmates for their homework because I didn’t do the work myself. Hah.
There is a positive take away from this experience. For years I have seen myself as the “young worker” who still has a lot to learn and has a few decent skills. Fearful of dramatic actions like this; I’ve never felt more sure and confident in who I am and what I need to do for myself. I used to confuse the company needs with my own personal needs. I was no longer that person. I am now a leader who has seen what “good leaders” look like.and can confidently say I am on the same if not above the level of guys who had 5-10 years more experience than me.
Just write, bro.
December 4, 2023