The problem of the Political Elite who think they can run your life better than you can run your life has been with us for a long time.
In addition to that, I think that in recent decades we’ve had an increase in The Peter Principle. I do remember (long ago) having bosses who knew what they were doing, and who cared about the workers. I remember good teachers who knew their stuff and were excited to open new fields of knowledge to children. I remember administrators who worked with people to build teams and make the enterprise a success.
What happened?
Maybe I need to hang out with a better class of person these days, but I have a hard time thinking of anyone “in charge” of anything at any level who seems to know how to “manage”. Team building is “feel good” crap from California, everything is about being “woke”. The “leaders” look at budget and schedule and they stop right there. The business? The customers? The workers? The quality of the product? They don’t know how to focus on such unimportant things. They build pie charts for a living. Now go away and stop bothering The Boss.
I think it’s an issue in Politics, in Business, Everywhere. People cannot manage, they cannot administer, they cannot lead. All they really know is how to bully the peons beneath them.
I don’t know how we got here.
Who is John Galt?
An enormous change has been the discarding of a Christian worldview, for a nihilistic "I, or the Government, am God" worldview.
Christianity requires humility, hard work, treating other people as you would treat yourself, leaving a legacy for your children.
The nihilistic view trends toward hedonism, with a "use it all up by the time I am dead", view.
Into the void left by rejection of Christianity, is Gaia worship, with all the Deep Green problems.
I worked at a place that didn’t want to take credit cards because the bank wanted 3% or whatever and I looked at the owners one day and I said you know 97% of something is better than 100% of nothing.
The University of Texas Law School graduate that was the majority Stockholder looked at the High School dropout (Me) and said “Well that’s a very good point.”
The following week we had a credit card roller and the 800# to get approvals. Sales went up like 15-18% the next month.
Managers that cannot do or manage... the MBA.
You just explained why I've probably been fired as much, if not more, than Benjamin Franklin.
It's the Army's fault...lol. Being a leader was drilled into me soon after I was a Chaparral Platoon leader in Germany. "A leader is responsible for everything is unit does, or FAILS TO DO."
To accomplish the mission, we had to have each others' backs. That meant looking out for my soldiers, especially from ill advised orders from superiors. No, they weren't unlawful orders, but there were ways to work around them.
There are plenty of "bullies" in civilian life, too. I recall one job where our top sales person was the worst bully I've ever seen. The owner wasn't going to say anything, of course.
About six months into the job, she came storming into my office, demanding something that I can't recall, it was just another day.
Turned out to be "not another day". I jumped up out of my chair and got nose to nose with her, letting her know that her BS was over with me. I was gone within the month...lol.
My two jobs as a small company CFO lasted about 18 months, just in time for me to clean up the financial records. I was expendable after that, as ownership grew tired of me telling them no, and the reasons why, a particular course of action should not be taken.
Yup, there are skills picked up when one has been a Platoon Leader, XO, and Battery Commander in the Army. Having the spine to deal with bullies is just another aspect to the job.