This post was originally featured in the December 10th, 2025 newsletter found here: INBOX INSIGHTS, December 10, 2025: Why Everyone Hates the CEO, End of Year Purchases
Why Everyone Hates the CEO
I recently spent some time reading through a compilation of anonymous employee feedback from Reddit regarding CEOs at large, global companies. It was… a lot.
Some of the chief complaints that kept surfacing included:
- Financial Mismanagement & Greed: Sacrificing long-term growth and stability for short-term profits or personal bonuses.
- Reactionary, Chaotic Decision-Making: Treating every fleeting whim as a top priority, creating organizational whiplash.
- Unclear Direction & Lack of Structure: Leaving teams adrift without clear goals, metrics, or instructions.
- Undermining Authority: Bypassing established leadership structures based on gossip or favoritism.
- Micromanagement & Lack of Trust: Hovering over details and refusing to delegate, signaling deep insecurity.
- Incompetence & Politics: Promoting based on charisma rather than skill, while fearing reality and reason.
- Tone-Deafness & Disconnection: Ignoring company policies for favorites and failing to understand the operational reality of the workforce.
- Imbalance of Workload & Compensation: Demanding unrealistic output without providing necessary resources or fair rewards.
Reading through these, my first reaction wasn’t defensiveness. It was recognition.
I get it.
If you’ve ever worked in a large organization, you’ve likely felt the frustration of a leadership team that seems disconnected from reality. You’ve watched a CEO chase a shiny new object while the core business crumbles. You’ve dealt with the “executive priority” of the day that derails weeks of actual work. You aren’t alone, and your frustration is valid.
But here’s the unpopular opinion: while it’s easy to write these leaders off as “bad people” or “ego-driven,” (and this is definitely true for a lot of them) the reality is that the CEO-employee relationship is a two-way street. Yes, the power dynamic is skewed, but silence and resentment from the workforce only fuel the chaos.
So, let’s break down these toxic dynamics and look at what CEOs need to stop doing, and proactively, what employees can do to survive—and maybe even fix—the chaos.
The Strategy Gap: “Everything is a Priority”
One of the loudest complaints is that executive decisions lack coherent strategy. Employees feel like they are constantly pivoting to chase short-term gains or the CEO’s latest whim, introducing chaos and financial stress.
For the CEO: Stop Being a Chaos Agent
Your job isn’t to have every idea; your job is to kill the bad ones. When you chase every shiny object (hello, Generative AI), you aren’t being innovative; you’re being distracting. You need to define a clear Purpose—the “North Star”—and stick to it. If you change the strategy every quarter, you aren’t pivoting; you’re flailing. Before you announce a “new direction,” ask yourself: Does this align with the core problem we solve? If not, shelf it.
For the Employee: Force the Trade-Off
When leadership throws a new “P1” priority on your plate without taking anything off, don’t just say “okay” and burn yourself out trying to do it all. You have to manage up.
Respond with data, not emotion. Say this: “I can absolutely focus on this new initiative. Currently, I have Projects A, B, and C on my plate. To accommodate this new priority, which of these three should I pause?”
Force leadership to acknowledge the trade-off. Often, they don’t realize the capacity constraints until you show them the math.
The Trust Void: Micromanagement vs. Accountability
Another recurring theme is the toxic dynamic of micromanagement. Employees see leaders who gained their positions through charisma but lack the competence to actually do the job. This insecurity breeds a need to control every minor detail.
For the CEO: Delegate Outcomes, Not Tasks
If you are checking font sizes or rewriting email copy, you are failing as a CEO. You are paid to think strategically, not tactically. Micromanagement is a symptom of your own insecurity—you don’t trust the process, so you hover over the people.
Stop it.
Instead, set clear expectations for the outcome (the “what”) and let your team figure out the process (the “how”). If you can’t trust them to do that, you either hired the wrong people or, more likely, you failed to give them clear instructions.
For the Employee: Over-Communicate to Buy Freedom
If you are being micromanaged, it’s usually because your boss is anxious about what you’re doing. The antidote to anxiety is information.
Be proactive. Don’t wait for them to ask “where is this project?” Send a status update before they ask. Document your process. Show your work. When you make your workflow transparent, you remove the mystery. When you remove the mystery, you remove the need for them to hover. You buy your own freedom by flooding the zone with clarity.
The Reality Disconnect: “Do More With Less”
Finally, there is the heartbreaking complaint of tone-deafness. Executives who push teams to do more with less, ignore their own policies for “favorites,” and fail to support the workforce during transitions.
For the CEO: Walk the Walk
You cannot mandate “return to office” while you work from your vacation home. You cannot cut budgets for tools while flying private. Culture isn’t what you put on a poster; it’s what you tolerate and how you behave.
If you are asking the team to “do more with less,” you need to be in the trenches removing obstacles, not adding to them. You need to acknowledge the burnout, not gaslight your team into thinking they just aren’t working hard enough.
For the Employee: Set Boundaries Based on Data
When the workload becomes unrealistic, “trying harder” is a trap. You need to treat your time like a budget.
Track your time. When the request comes to “do more,” show the receipts. “Here is a breakdown of my 40 hours this week: 15 hours went to meetings, 10 to administrative tasks, and 15 to deep work. Where can we cut?”
It’s hard to argue with a timesheet. By protecting your boundaries with data, you aren’t being “difficult”; you’re being professional.
The Bottom Line
The complaints about CEOs usually boil down to a lack of strategy, understanding of how we work, and trust and respect.
CEOs: You need to stop treating your employees like cogs in a machine and start treating them like the engine that drives the business. Get clear, get organized, and get out of their way.
Employees: You can’t control who sits in the corner office, but you can control how you engage with them. Stop waiting for permission to organize your work, set boundaries, and demand clarity.
It’s a relationship. And like any relationship, it only works if both sides show up, communicate clearly, and respect the other person’s reality.
You can do this.
How are you managing expectations? Reply to this email or join the conversation in our free Slack community, Analytics for Marketers!
– Katie Robbert, CEO
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