WWYD - male co-worker trying to take credit for my work

[Anonymous]

Honestly isn't it worse to acknowledge to coworker for his help with formatting? That reinforces the coworker as secretary thing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here.

If I say so myself -- I killed Really, presentation went really well. I just removed his content and thanked him for his collaboration.

Some of the comments here have been so interesting. I understand some of the feedback about my boss's original request of this guy basically being "asking a co-exec to do secretarial work." At the risk of too many details for this forum -- I, too, originally thought this was just an admin/IT thing -- and was surprised that another exec was asked (and was given the work.)

But, again, info I didn't include before: the whole point of this presentation was b/c this same exec had *excluded* me from another peer's presentation (that impacted my division) and I found out about it last week.

I suspect that my boss and this exec knew that this presentation needed to "match" up with that presentation…and they were caught-red-handed about not having gotten my participation/input on that presentation. I realized this when one of the exec's edits to *my* presentation was to link to that other presentation. I think it was a CYA on their part.

I think it was sleazy all around.

But, you know what, I edited my presentation back to what it needed to be…presented the hell out of it…rose about it all. Our CEO sat in unexpectedly…so all's well.

And…I'll keep a smile on my face with this exec (and my sneaky boss)…but my memory is long.

Awesome. I think you handled it well. Good job.

If I were in your position, if someone asked me why I went back to the original - I would play dumb and say something about how the extra information they inserted needs to be vetted and verified blah blah blah .. and how they didn't give you enough time blah blah blah... but you'd be sure to include those issues in the next presentation blah blah blah

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I could really use some advice. Little background: my co-worker and I are both exec. level professionals -- our subject matter areas interact but are not the same. This guy is considered a "great guy" by our CEO and he has basically only ever worked at this company. He has not been helpful in any way to me since I joined (about a year ago) -- which is fine…but may be instructive.

I have worked on an major presentation (in my subject area expertise) and am set to present it to, among others, this co-worker's division.

In my organization, there is a "template" style presentation slide deck that all presentations are supposed to conform to. I don't have access to that template, etc., so I was asked (by my boss) to send it to my co-worker who "would put it into the right format." Well, he kept it for 3 days and I got it back last night at 11pm!! (Presentation is at noon today, by the way.)

Well, I open up the slide deck this morning and discover that he has made some changes to my presentation(!) without ever discussing them with me. There aren't many changes and they are not substantive or material…but they are also not things I would have inserted. This just seems like an obnoxious overstepping and pretty unprofessional.

What's worse, he changed the title page to say "materials complied by" [his name] and [my name]!! This has just infuriated me. I have worked on this presentation for months and it is my area. I am told to send my presentation to him for what I was led to believe would be an admin/tech process of fitting it into the correct slide deck…but now, his name is on the presentation *as if* we've been collaborating on this thing substantively.

What would you do? Any advice…again, I'm presenting at noon.

The whole thing sounds like a bunch of pointless office politics.

If I were you, I'd worry more about why the other guy has access to the template, but you don't, if you're at about the same level.

I'd also worry about why you don't have an assistant to do this grunt level crap for you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here.

If I say so myself -- I killed Really, presentation went really well. I just removed his content and thanked him for his collaboration.

Some of the comments here have been so interesting. I understand some of the feedback about my boss's original request of this guy basically being "asking a co-exec to do secretarial work." At the risk of too many details for this forum -- I, too, originally thought this was just an admin/IT thing -- and was surprised that another exec was asked (and was given the work.)

But, again, info I didn't include before: the whole point of this presentation was b/c this same exec had *excluded* me from another peer's presentation (that impacted my division) and I found out about it last week.

I suspect that my boss and this exec knew that this presentation needed to "match" up with that presentation…and they were caught-red-handed about not having gotten my participation/input on that presentation. I realized this when one of the exec's edits to *my* presentation was to link to that other presentation. I think it was a CYA on their part.

I think it was sleazy all around.

But, you know what, I edited my presentation back to what it needed to be…presented the hell out of it…rose about it all. Our CEO sat in unexpectedly…so all's well.

And…I'll keep a smile on my face with this exec (and my sneaky boss)…but my memory is long.

Congratulations OP! So glad to hear this!

Yay for outsmarting the office politics and sneakiness.

[Anonymous]

Yes that is what i would have done. I probably would not have mentioned the other formatting help at all. As it wasn't helpful.lol
Interesting thoughts here. No way would I have let his name stay. Though in my co, its common to have NO NAME on the presentation.. Which I think is weird.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here.

If I say so myself -- I killed Really, presentation went really well. I just removed his content and thanked him for his collaboration.

Some of the comments here have been so interesting. I understand some of the feedback about my boss's original request of this guy basically being "asking a co-exec to do secretarial work." At the risk of too many details for this forum -- I, too, originally thought this was just an admin/IT thing -- and was surprised that another exec was asked (and was given the work.)

But, again, info I didn't include before: the whole point of this presentation was b/c this same exec had *excluded* me from another peer's presentation (that impacted my division) and I found out about it last week.

I suspect that my boss and this exec knew that this presentation needed to "match" up with that presentation…and they were caught-red-handed about not having gotten my participation/input on that presentation. I realized this when one of the exec's edits to *my* presentation was to link to that other presentation. I think it was a CYA on their part.

I think it was sleazy all around.

But, you know what, I edited my presentation back to what it needed to be…presented the hell out of it…rose about it all. Our CEO sat in unexpectedly…so all's well.

And…I'll keep a smile on my face with this exec (and my sneaky boss)…but my memory is long.

Congratulations OP! So glad to hear this!

Yay for outsmarting the office politics and sneakiness.

[Anonymous]

Op again- I agree with h you (and did remove his name and my own). I didn't have any name in it --which is why his adding a name page was odd.
The presentation was taped by the way (audio only). I listened to it yesterday and it was fascinating. This guy interrupted me a few times. I loved getting to hear how I handled it - total gracious, smooth control. My teenage daughter listened in (and flat out told me this guy is a sexist jerk!). Loved it when she told me I that if you didn't know the backstory, this just sounded like a great presentation with a jerk interrupting with irrelevant points--and with me graciously steering the presentation back on track. It ended with our ceo saying it was excellent.
Bottom line: jerks abound...all we can control is how we handle it. And, if our daughters get a good example of how to rise above well, so much the better!

[Anonymous]

Be wary of anyone who has only been at one company.

[Anonymous]

How is your colleague's gender relevant in this?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How is your colleague's gender relevant in this?

Because of his history -- to long and detailed to have originally described in the post. Diminishes women, holds "guys only" meetings. Literally uses phases like "gentlemen's agreements" when describing how he's worked something out with a male colleague…and routinely reprimands female colleagues for their "tone" in meetings and warns them not to sound "witchy." (When, by any objective measure, they are well within the normal bounds.)

I am at his level and in a different division so most of this doesn't impact me directly (but his treatment of women is clear). As far as my experience with him: recently, he worked with a male colleague to to create a presentation that impacted and referred to my division without speaking to me about it, soliciting my input, making me aware that a presentation was in the works at all, etc. It was a classic locking out. So, part of my presentation was making sure that I presented the relevant information about my division in my own words/voice.

Listening to the audio of my presentation was a case study -- his repeated interruptions, etc. Probably all too detailed to make sense on a board like this, but if you choose to, trust me…this guy locks women out, takes credit for their work (in a way he does not with male colleagues), dismisses women, schedules male only dinners, happy hours, etc. Really. And, yes, this is allowed in our company. A bigger problem, I know.