Entry No. 011 · The Inmate Index
Senior leadership. Capable of company-wide chaos without living through most of it.
Full Definition
The Mental Terrorist sits high enough up the org chart that a decision made in a ten minute meeting can rearrange hundreds of people's weeks, months, or careers, and they'll never sit in the room where the fallout actually lands.
You know the phrases. Do more with less. We need to move fast here. Let's circle back on headcount next quarter. Said with total confidence by someone who hasn't done the actual daily work in years, sometimes decades.
The damage isn't always malicious. That's what makes it worse. It's distance. When you're far enough removed from a system, you stop feeling what your decisions cost the people still inside it.
Signs You're Living It
Survival Move
You can't manage up to someone this far removed, so stop trying to be seen by them and start protecting your own hours from their decisions. Build your buffer before the next initiative lands, not after.
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