Boss’s consigliere

[Anonymous]

What do you make of this situation:

My boss’s boss (think president of a business division in a multinational conglomerate) is essentially relying on a lieutenant/consigliere who thinks they know everything and is micromanaging tasks well outside the scope of his role. Think of like a VP for HR who thinks he can do marcomms, stand in as chief of staff, public policy strategist (when there actually are people in charge of marcomms, public policy and a chief of staff). Basically steamrolling everyone. Boss’s boss is new to the role and clearly trusts the HR role person. Others in their roles feeling an undermined. Their morale then feeding down hill.

This is all happening above my pay grade but it’s like watching a train wreck and I am wondering how it might play out.

[Anonymous]

That's an official position since the pandemic - people are really good at it. As long as they're keeping the fires burning, delegating, and making sure your boss' boss is busy with the most important things - what's the problem?

Whole series on it - https://www.tiktok.com/@ayomitok/video/7148854575469137198

[Anonymous]

In the government we call that a Senior Advisor to an SES.

[Anonymous]

I worked at a start-up just before IPO that had a person like this who did the CEO and founder's dirty work. I thought I was safe from them because they were a few levels above me. Nope. It was a nightmare and I was glad to leave after the IPO, which, by the way, was not the unicorn situation they had promised the media and the market.

A situation like this is bad because it tells you that:

1) if this is tolerated or effective, there is either way too much or way too little structure in the org
2) the CEO or boss is not willing to do the hard parts of their job

[Anonymous]

So, there's a Chief of Staff but the Head of HR is steamrolling over him/her? The Chief of Staff needs to step UP, or otherwise, watch for signals that leadership is on the way out..
It's fine short-term if the Head of HR person doesn't really do any harm, and if it's only until the president gets up to speed. But a good HR person would redirect the work and accountabilities to where they are supposed to be, not absorb them him/herself. It sounds like an HR leader who lacks clarity on organizational structure, operating models, and workflow. Instead, they are ingratiating themselves to the President? Insecure and Weak.