have now encountered two C-level execs who came from big names, were airdropped into our startup, and then proceeded to completely mangle the parts of the company they ran. always takes at least a year for people to realize (i didn't realize it myself for the first one until AFTER he was fired seemingly out of the blue, and then you start to pattern match the subsequent ones. my personal reflection is this is a horrendous waste but is part of the benefit of being an early employee at a startup, that you get to see other pple's costly mistakes while having a lower stake in the cost. I didn't know to trust my instincts then, because org chart = truth when you are new to the game).

Shreyas Doshi calls this the Incompetent Leader (https://twitter.com/shreyas/status/1339997380335128576), which i will quote below for the twitter allergic (it is a better framing than I can ever come up with):

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First-time founders, CEOs, and even employees should understand the playbook of the Incompetent Leader (IL).

The IL is savvy & charismatic, and excels at 4 things:
1) Feign competence
2) Create confusion
3) Buy time
4) Fail up

The IL playbook & what to do about it

The IL’s most favorite move is simple: Buy Time

The IL’s 2nd most favorite move is: Buy More Time.

After doing this a few times, the IL’s masterstroke is: Fail Up.

The IL will repeat this a few times over a 20-30 year career to reach “spectacular success”

Here’s how it works:

Once upon a time:

IL joins a new company, with much fanfare from the CEO, who really wants this to work out.

Remember, the IL is incapable of making a significant, singular impact.

IL doesn’t want anyone to know this.

So what does IL do?

IL sets the playbook in motion.

Step 1 -

IL:
“I don’t have the right people. Cannot execute without the right team.”

CEO:
“I guess that’s reasonable. Do what you have to.”

Result:
IL has just bought 6-9 months to go hire org leaders, managers, while hiding incompetence behind charisma & confidence.

[after 6-9 months]

Step 2 -

IL:
“Have a better team now. Look how well I’ve hired! But my org doesn’t have the right structure. Not aligned with new strategy, worried execution will suffer.”

CEO:
“Hmmm… fine, go ahead.”

Result:
IL has just bought 3 months to plan re-org, 3 more to let it settle

[after 6-9 months]

Step 3 -

IL:
“Okay, that reorg helped & my people are firing on all cylinders. But I don’t have enough cross-functional alignment. We need a company re-org/Need to bring those functions into my org/Need new cross-func leaders”

CEO (pot committed):
“Fine, let’s do X, Y, Z here”

[after 6 more months]

Step 4 -

IL:
“Some of my key people left because of frustration with all of this. I need to replenish the gaps. Btw, look at these amazing results last quarter!”

CEO to IL:
“OK let me think about it”

CEO (thinking):
Those results are due to market tailwinds & not THAT amazing

[Privately, CEO makes a call to an executive search firm to begin finding a replacement for IL]

[At the next CEO/IL 1:1]

CEO:
“It’s time to part ways”

IL (after expressing some incredulity & outrage):
“I understand. I want to do what's best for the company. Let’s work on a comms plan for my departure”

[IL or CEO send an announcement to the company reflecting, thanking, looking onward/upward, etc]

Step 5 -
(most vital move for IL)

IL (in interview with hot company Foobar):
“Here’s everything I built at previous company. Company grew 70% in my 2 yrs there despite all the challenges I faced”

CEO of Foobar:
“When can you start?”

[and THAT is how our IL fails up]

THE END

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he continues with a "what you should do about it", which if you are still reading here at this point go give him a "superfollow" ($10/month for his product/executive thoughts, very worth it) https://twitter.com/shreyas/status/1339997399909994496