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The Corporate Incompetence
I walked away from the corporate world because I couldn’t ignore how broken the system is. I left because when I offered my skills, knowledge, experience, and expertise to address those issues, they were dismissed outright. Instead, I was told to follow orders, keep the machine running, blend in, don’t stand out, and never challenge the status quo. I was expected to stop thinking and to turn a blind eye to everything that was broken, unjust, unethical, and even illegal.
I left because they wanted me to become incompetent.
Corporations are mass-producing corporate refugees, who are leaving their jobs, citing a fundamental reason: corporate incompetence. They typically leave because they feel constrained, dissatisfied, or burned out by their environment. These individuals feel that the rigid structures, bureaucracy, politics, or lack of alignment with personal values in corporate settings made it unsustainable for them to continue. It’s not just about bad leadership or lack of vision anymore. It's about the daily grind of working in environments where decisions are misinformed, systems are broken, and the blame game is the only game in town. Employees are no longer willing to stay in this type of environment.
A lot of people who leave the corporate grind end up shifting to things like running their own business, consulting, or freelancing. For them, ditching the corporate world is all about breaking free from a suffocating environment and finally doing work that feels meaningful. They don’t actually want to leave, they want to do a great job but they are not allowed. When I speak to them they say “It is bloody hard but I rather struggle with this than going back to the system where I am just a number.”
Not everyone has the chance to leave, which is why so many organizations are filled with people stuck in the same cycle. The result? Disengagement, apathy, nihilism, frustration, burnout, and worsening mental health. And for the organizations? Stagnation. A decade later, they’ll still be dealing with the same turnover rates, the same complaints, and the same struggles. Companies claim they care about turnover, but they’re the ones fueling it. They say innovation and progress matter, yet they keep pushing away the very people who could make those things happen.
That, my friend, is what we call corporate incompetence.
Competent companies aren’t scared of facing what’s broken and fixing it. Competent companies accept criticism and use that to be better. Competent companies stop doing things that make no sense. At competent companies, you find people to look up to (in terms of expertise). When was the last time you genuinely looked up to someone at work? For me, it was back in 2016. Since then, I’ve just been quietly asking myself, “Who hired these people?” Some might call that arrogance, but I disagree. It’s not arrogance to realize you’re in a room, department, or organisation where there’s nothing to learn from the people around you—where you can’t look up to them professionally. It’s okay to admit, “I’m better than this,” and recognise it’s time to move on!
Organizations talk endlessly about engagement, turnover, and innovation, treating them like sacred scripture. The problem? They still haven’t figured out how to actually make sense of any of it. The problems are obvious but the question is why don’t they do something about it? Well, incompetence will never solve any problem. How could it?
Incompetence keeps doing the same old things, not even hoping for a different outcome—because that’s not the goal. The goal is survival. And where does incompetence thrive best? In large corporations, where it can blend in and stick around. While competence flees or suffers incompetence is having the best time. Incompetence doesn’t want or understand change because its paycheck depends on it not wanting or understanding it.
What steps can individuals, consultants, and organizations take to address this issue? In this video, I share the fundamental principles that successful companies follow when collaborating with experts. I also offer guidance for individuals on how to identify the right work environment instead of constantly switching jobs. It might make you realise that you don’t have to tackle it all on your own; finding a company that values and embraces your expertise, skills, knowledge, and experience could be the key. Enjoy the video!
PS: The term was brought to my attention by a friend. I am not that creative:-))
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