Business English: Can I unseat my useless boss?

A female deputy (46) wrote: I have a new boss who is totally clueless about the business though is very media savvy and has a high profile. For the time being she needs me as her deputy as I keep the show on the road... von Lucy Kellaway, London

... But as soon as she has found her feet I have no doubt that she will fire me.

The company owners have fallen for her charm and image, but I am wondering if there is anything I can do to unseat her and bring on an early departure before she ruins the company.

Read what Lucy Kellaway, "agony-aunt" of the Financial Times (London), answered:

You complain that your boss is clueless about the business. Of course she's clueless - she's only been with the company for five minutes. Everyone is allowed to be a bit clueless at the beginning, especially if they have come from another industry.

Ignorant people are worse

The more interesting question is whether she is healthily aware of her cluelessness and is taking steps to rid herself of it. The dangerous people are the ones who are oblivious to their ignorance and charge in making a load of terrible decisions. As you don't refer to any awful decisions that have already been made, I'm assuming that there haven't been any - yet.

Lucy Kellaway

It sounds to me as if things are better than you suppose. If she knows that she needs you now, she recognises that she does not have all the answers already.

Why do you think she will fire you when she has learnt what's what? The only reason I can think of is that you have made your loathing of her, which vibrates in every word of your e-mail to me, apparent to her. That was a mistake.

Support the number one

If I were you, I'd try to be a bit more amiable. It is the job of the number two to support the number one.

To answer your question directly: No, there is nothing sneaky that you can do to unseat her. If her bosses have fallen for her, as you suggest, they will go on being blindly smitten for a while. Anything you do to undermine her is likely to do more damage to you - and to the business - than to her.

Soon she might have charmed someone else

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Mehr zu: Büro, Karriere, Lucy Kellaway

Charm is a dangerous weapon. People who win through charm get a long way - for a while. But when they are finally rumbled and it is revealed that they have been incompetent, stupid, lazy and so on, the fall from grace is ugly. The trouble is that this can take a very long time. But if, as you fear, she is pretty shallow and really only interested in her own image, she won't stay put for long. Soon she will have charmed someone else and will be off to something more glamorous.

In that case, by far the best thing to do is nothing. She may turn out to be rather relaxing to work for as she glides from one TV studio to the next leaving you to run the company that you so evidently love. So long as you can bring yourself to stop hating her, it sounds like an arrangement that could work out rather nicely.

Aus der Financial Times, London. www.ft.com