Managers and I-Part II

So you pinged your manager’s manager. Not nice you know…
Here is the story about my naïvité;

I was interested in an internal job so naturally, I applied for it. I had two rounds of interviews. The result was not in my favor. I wanted feedback. I talked to my reporting manager; they were vague about it. It made me more curious. I decided to contact the senior manager of the internal job opening group. I dropped them a mail, and I got a detailed response back. I was happy. When we try outside; we do not get feedback from interviewers. I thought this story ended well. Little did I know; the small rift I already had with my reporting manager; had become deep after this.

The rift was developed over a period of time. There were many reasons. This reporting manager dumped their work on me and on others. They were managing the project with no energy, no enthusiasm. There was zero people management. Their redeeming quality was articulation and control over temper. My dooming “quality” was, I was not a yes man and I was straightforward; brutally honest. I had all components of becoming the less liked person in a team; so I did. at least I know it and I am working on becoming more indirect. I wish managers know their follies and work on them as well. One can dream!

Back to the deepening of the rift. We had engineering management changes in the USA. The new director’s behavior was inconsistent. There was a lack of trust between India and the USA. They were powerful and brutal; which is scary for junior people sitting across the ocean. One time; I asked a question to their boss; because I thought the boss was cooler and we were allowed to do so. Open door policy; skip levels; all were floated in the meetings many times. The boss told them about the question. The new director got pretty angry and asked my reporting manager; has she done that earlier; did she skip level like that (hmmm how dare I ask a harmless question, right?). My reporting manager agreed and he related this to an “incident” when I asked for interview feedback directly from the interviewers' team. Together they decided I was the “bad” seed.
Question is, how I come to know of this. The reporting manager confessed themselves. They thought they were pointing out my valid “fault” so they shared this with me after few months.

I was naive to take such policies on their face values. Corporate is about navigating egos. If you fail to do so successfully, you never grow after a certain level. People with flaws are mismanaging many-a-times. They do not face repercussions. They misuse the power to make people miserable in one way or another. They are protected by senior management and HR. They are more trusted. This is the reality in IT organizations. No wonder all are running towards getting a “cabin”. All is a power game; no one is ready to be responsible for their rash judgments and biases.
If you do not agree with me; it’s ok. It is my truth and it won't change for me. We all know what to do in such situations; Change. Because some things never change.