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Is It Possible You Suck As A Manager?

It might be that the second best day your employees have at work is when you’re out of the office; it might be that the best day they have is when they’re out of the office.

There’s a scene in the hilarious Adam Sandler-Drew Barrymore movie Blended where Terry Crews and his band of energetic singers follow a hapless basketball player around the court, belting in perfect unison:

“You suck, you suck, you suck, you suck…”
It’s exaggerated, hilarious, and wildly uncomfortable.

Here’s the scene:

But if you’ve ever led a team poorly—or worked under someone who did—you know the feeling isn’t always that far off.

Behind the jokes, the eye-rolls, the passive-aggressive Slack messages and “hey do you have a minute?” exits, there’s often a collective internal monologue echoing the same refrain:

“You suck as a manager.”
And here’s the hard part: most bad managers don’t know they’re bad.

They believe they’re respected. They think the silence in meetings is agreement. They confuse compliance with commitment. But in reality, they’re bleeding talent, killing morale, and slowly turning every day into a psychological obstacle course.

So if you’re brave enough to ask the question…

“Am I Losing My Team?”
…then read this. Carefully. And honestly.

Here are 25 ways you might be sucking as a manager—and losing your team in the process:

1. You confuse being busy with being effective.
Activity ≠ impact. Your team sees the wheel-spinning.

2. You hoard decisions.
Every decision routes through you. Everything stalls.

3. You offer feedback once a year—during performance reviews.
No coaching, just judging.

4. You talk more than you listen.
And they’ve stopped trying to be heard.

5. You play favorites.
And pretend no one notices. They do.

6. You delegate tasks, not trust.
You want help, but not ownership.

7. You manage up, but not down.
The execs love you. Your team does not.

8. You avoid hard conversations.
Because comfort matters more than clarity.

9. You focus only on metrics, not meaning.
Your people feel like spreadsheets.

10. You don’t advocate for your team.
When push comes to shove, you disappear.

11. You criticize in public and praise in private.
Got that backwards.

12. You confuse authority with leadership.
Your title doesn’t inspire—your behavior does.

13. You suck at meetings.
Too many, too long, too pointless.

14. You pretend to know everything.
And everyone can tell you don’t.

15. You don’t ask how they’re doing—only what they’re doing.
You missed the humanity.

16. You reward burnout.
The more someone sacrifices their life, the more you celebrate them.

17. You don’t develop people.
No coaching, no mentorship, no growth plan.

18. You treat everyone the same.
Fair ≠ identical. People need different things.

19. You hide behind policy.
Instead of making principled, human decisions.

20. You blame the team when things go wrong.
But take all the credit when things go right.

21. You never say “I was wrong.”
Which makes you always seem insecure.

22. You confuse fear with respect.
One makes people obey. The other makes them believe.

23. You don’t protect their time.
Urgent things trump important ones every day.

24. You hire fast and fire slow.
The wrong people stay too long—and the right people leave too soon.

25. You forgot what it’s like to be them.
And now, you lead from a distance instead of empathy.

No One Starts Out Wanting to Suck
No one wakes up and says, “I want to be an ineffective, self-centered, growth-stifling boss.” It happens slowly. Through comfort. Through ego. Through avoidance.

The antidote isn’t more training modules or books about high-performing teams. It’s self-awareness, humility, and action.

And yes, maybe a moment of reflection where you ask:

“Am I becoming the kind of manager I would want to work for?”
Because here’s the thing: you don’t have to be perfect. But if your team is emotionally singing Terry Crews’ “You suck”anthem under their breath… it might be time to change the tune.

Want to Be Better?
Start with these:

Have a real 1:1 where you ask them how you can improve.
Acknowledge your blind spots—and invite feedback.
Make one decision this week that makes your team’s life easier, not harder.

Lead people, not positions. Build trust, not control. And remember: the best managers don’t inspire fear—they inspire followership.

If this made you uncomfortable, good. That’s where growth begins.

How to Stop Sucking and Start Leading
(25 Real Moves That Rebuild Trust, Grow Your Team, and Reclaim Your Leadership)

So you read the first part of this article “Why You Suck As a Manager” and felt the sting. Good.

That sting? That’s self-awareness. And unlike title, budget, or tenure, self-awareness is the foundation of real leadership.

The question now isn’t whether you’ve made mistakes—you have. We all have. The question is whether you’re willing to do something about it.

So if you’re ready to stop bleeding credibility, trust, and talent, here are 25 actionable ways to stop sucking and start leading.

Not someday. Now.

1. Start every one-on-one with one question: “How (am I?) are you (?) really doing?”
People perform when they feel seen.

2. Give real-time feedback. Don’t wait for review season.
You wouldn’t wait 6 months to correct a GPS route. Don’t do it with your people.

3. Own your mistakes—out loud.
Vulnerability earns respect. Defensiveness kills it.

4. Pick someone on your team to coach deeply for 90 days.
Then rotate. You’ll develop leaders instead of dependents.

5. Protect your team’s time like it’s your own.
Audit meetings. Cancel the pointless ones. Shield them from the noise.

6. Build a culture of candor.
Say, “What’s one thing you wish you could tell me but haven’t?”

7. Make decisions—then communicate the why.
Silence is interpreted as fear or indifference.

8. Promote clarity over cleverness.
Your job is to make things simple, not smart-sounding.

9. Ask more questions than you give answers.
Curiosity builds trust. Lecturing builds distance.

10. Stop micromanaging and start building ownership.
Let them own it. Fully. Even if it’s a little messy.

11. Set expectations. Not assumptions.
Clarity = kindness.

12. Thank someone publicly for doing something quietly great.
Recognition isn’t just about volume—it’s about visibility.

13. Say no to things that drain your team without delivering value.
Strategic subtraction is leadership.

14. Coach behavior, not personality.
“Be more professional” is useless. “Send agendas before meetings” isn’t.

15. Read the emotional temperature of the room.
Are they quiet because they agree—or because they’ve given up?

16. Establish a personal leadership board of directors.
Three people who will call you out. No fluff. No filter.

17. Model work-life integrity.
Don’t talk about boundaries—show them.

18. Invest in the underdog.
Every quiet B-player has the potential to become your next A-player—if you believe in them first.

19. Never let a high performer become invisible.
If you’re not developing them, someone else will be.

20. Build a culture where people leave better than they arrived.
This is the real scoreboard of your leadership.

21. Keep your promises.
Even the small ones. Especially the small ones.

22. Stop performing for upper management.
Start serving your team.

23. Make your values operational.
If “integrity” is a poster, but not a behavior, it’s hypocrisy.

24. Re-recruit your team monthly.
Remind them why they matter. Remind them why you care.

25. Ask yourself weekly: “Would I want to work for me right now?”
If the answer is no, do something about it.

The Best Leaders Aren’t Perfect—They’re Committed
You don’t need a new personality. You don’t need an MBA or a LinkedIn-certified course on synergy optimization.

You need to:

Show up.
Care deeply.
Decide courageously.
Own your growth—publicly and consistently.

Leadership isn’t a status. It’s a practice. And it starts the moment you decide to stop protecting your ego and start earning your team.

They’re not looking for a savior. They’re looking for someone who’s human, present, and in motion.

So the next time you feel that little voice mocking you—“you suck, you suck, you suck…”—don’t run from it.

Lead from it.

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Paul Fioravanti, MBA, MPA, CTP, is the CEO & Managing Partner of QORVAL Partners, LLC, a FL-based advisory firm (founded 1996 by Jim Malone, (1942–2021), six-time Fortune 100/500 CEO). Qorval is a US-based growth and exit advisory, turnaround, restructuring, business optimization and interim management firm. Fioravanti is a proven advisor and CEO with experience in more than 90 situations in more than 40 industries. He earned his MBA and MPA from The University of Rhode Island and completed advanced post-master’s research in finance and marketing at Bryant University. He is a Certified Turnaround Professional and member of the Turnaround Management Association, the Private Directors Association, Association for Corporate Growth (ACG), Association of Merger & Acquisition Advisors (AM&MA), the American Bankruptcy Institute, and IMCUSA.

QORVAL Partners: Grow It. Fix it. Exit. Helping companies scale, transform, and prepare for what’s next. www.qorval.com 239 588 0008 helpmybusiness@qorval.com

If your organization is at a pivotal moment—financial, operational improvement, KPI drivers, growth, transformation, leadership transition, or preparing for an exit—QORVAL is ready to help.

Copyright 2025, Qorval Partners LLC and/or Paul Fioravanti, MBA, MPA, CTP. All rights reserved. No reproduction or redistribution without permission.

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