The Boomer Boss

The EHS VP had called an impromptu, all-hands meeting. We knew that this meeting was going to be great news for her and bad news for us. This time her voice brimming with triumph as she announced the end of our exhaustive search for a new EHS Manager. She promised a true "seasoned professional" that was going to transform our team. "Yeah - I heard that one-liner before", I said to myself.

We gathered in a random conference room where we dialed our remote colleagues, waiting with bated breath for this titan of industry to walk through the door. Then, the door opened.

"Seasoned" turned out to be the understatement of the century. The man who shuffled in looked two steps away from becoming a historical artifact. His hair was completely gray, spoke with a raspy, time-worn voice and worn his pants a couple inches too far up from his belly button. Regardless, I forced my expression into a neutral, welcoming smile, reminding myself that one day this aged professional could be me and I should give him a chance.

The introduction began smoothly enough. He nodded along as the VP proudly listed his decades of accolades. Then, it was his turn to speak. He leaned in to address our remote female colleagues patched in from Canada. In his raspy voice, he asked: “How are you girlies dealing with the cold weather in Canada?”

Girlies.

The word hung in the sterile air of the conference room. The EHS VP had a momentarily seizer. So did I. Who in the hell says that? Oh right, old f**king boomers. The answer was terrifyingly clear: an old man was misogynistic trying to navigate the new world of corporate politics where females reign. In a single, breathtakingly out-of-touch sentence, the grand illusion shattered. I immediately knew that this old boomer was not going to work out; in fact I was pretty sure that he was going to be a disaster. My intuition was not wrong...

Exactly eight excruciating months later, the VP's great experiment abruptly ended. He was unceremoniously walked out of the office by HR one afternoon, as I was hiding in my cubicle. His swift exit was not a failure on his part—it cast a long, glaring spotlight on our VP. Her "golden hire" exhibited the fact that she did not have the tact, intuition or skills to hire successful professionals. She was clearly not dialed into our internal culture and had no idea how to 'transform' our department. He was simply a victim to her sociopathic, egotistical judgement .

The Lesson Learned

A glowing resume can never outshine a toxic culture fit.

When leadership hires for experience but completely ignores character, adaptability and internal culture, the entire team pays the price.