The green-eyed monster

[Brighton Rock]

I expected a certain amount of flack when I took up my new post at the beginning of this year.  Assistant Company Secretary is quite a jump from EA. In our job rankings I'm positioned just below our Directors, with enough clear water between us for them not to feel uncomfortable. 

Most people are genuinely pleased for me.  They know how hard I have worked to get here.  It has been quite a battle sometimes to prove my detractors wrong over the years as I have taken on more responsibilities, although I have always had the support of my manager, who just happens to be the CEO.

I'm not surprised at one or two people taking the attitude of "who does she think she is?" but sadly one of our Directors is taking his frustrations with the CEO out on me.  We have just split our company into the main businesses and a charitable foundation.  It's my job to lead the project on establishing the latter as well as being ASC to the group.  This Director, it seems, felt the leadership role should go to him and that he would head up the foundation.  My role is really just the administration side of things and not progressing the main activities of the foundation -- that's his job.  The CEO remains head of everything.

The "frustrations" manifest themselves as: unhelpful responses to requests for information and really quite abrupt behaviour that is just rude.  Additionally, I have caught this particular Director staging whispering campaigns against the CEO and other Directors. 

My instinct is that a lot of this is a cover for deep insecurity if not something worse.   My other instinct is to invite him to lunch, and then I can do some digging to see whether I can find out the cause of this behaviour and perhaps get things on a much more amicable pathway.

We'll just have to see what happens. It's early days yet.

[countrigal]

First, a huge congratulations on the new position!  Sounds like an awesome job, with a lot of responsiblity!

As to the behavior the Director is showing... unless it directly impacts you (which clearly, some of it does), then ignore it.  Take the high road and know that if he's that insecure, someone, somewhere is aware of him and what he is doing and they are above you.  For those behaviors that are directly affecting you... you'll have to find your best way of handling it.  For me, if he was rude to me again, I'd probably stop him right then and ask him why he's being so rude to me.  I'd probably stress that even if he doesn't like me, that a proper way of handling it would still to be polite.  I'd do this with a smile, assuring him that there are no hard feelings on my part, but wanting to ensure a good working relationship with him.  For the unhelpful responses to requests for information... you wouldn't have advanced to where you are without knowing how to cultivate alternative sources for information.  If you can't get it directly, you find another route.  I'm sure you'll figure out how to deal with this headache and ensure that he doesn't pull you down when he goes down, because if he's going against the CEO and other Directors, you know he'll either straighten up or go down.

Good luck, and please keep us informed on how this progresses!

[gee4]

You have to remember many men don't like women in positions of power, they feel intimidated.