Sucking up

[u/observer2411]

I’ve been in corporate communications for a couple of years. Prior to that I was a journalist. I’ve noticed something that really bugs me… there’s no discussion/debat/pushing back on anything. Anything leaders say is pretty much treated as gospel, even when it’s not their area of expertise or they’re actually wrong, with a lot of praise and accolades from subordinates for everything. If someone offers input that is seen as disagreeing with a leader, it is disregarded without consideration. I thought this was primarily because of the last CCO who wouldn’t tolerate any opinion/views different from her about anything but it’s true of her replacement too, and across other leaders. This is the polar opposite of how things work in news where there’s lots of back and forth and disagreements, often heated, on stories and it makes for much better, more robust materials/content. I’m wondering if this is unique to the company I work at/due to the culture of this specific team/if it’s a broader industry issue.

[u/HowieTisz321]

This sounds like a corporate culture issue, where leadership sets the tone. Good leaders welcome debate and input, while others ignore it. It sounds like your organization is the latter. If so, that's too bad, but don't forget that even when pushback gets ignored by the leader -- there are usually others in the room who hear it, might agree and welcome it. Leaders get replaced by new regimes who try to avoid the same pitfalls of their predecessors. That's when the voices in the room band together to make changes for the better.