Not every lesson at work comes from training manuals. Some of the most lasting impressions come from poor leadership. In Observations at the Speed of Life, Ed Doherty draws from decades of experience to show how much bad managers actually teach their teams, often without meaning to.
According to a 2023 Gallup survey, 70 percent of team engagement is directly influenced by the manager. This means a poor manager is not just ineffective; they are often the root cause of low morale, weak performance, and high turnover. The impact is personal, cultural, and financial.
Here are four key things employees often learn under poor management, and why those lessons matter more than ever in today’s workplace.
1. Talent Doesn’t Matter If Leadership Fails
Doherty makes it clear: great people will not thrive in a bad system. When leadership lacks direction or accountability, even the most skilled employees disengage. A strong manager brings out the best in others. A weak one holds them back.
This mirrors what LinkedIn’s Workplace Learning Report revealed in 2023. It found that 94 percent of employees would stay longer at a company if it simply invested in their career growth. Poor managers block that investment. Whether through indecision or neglect, they waste talent.
Employees quickly learn that no matter how capable they are, their progress depends on the tone and competence set at the top. Leadership is not about job titles or seniority. It is about setting expectations, removing barriers, and creating momentum.
2. Confusion Kills Confidence
When a manager gives vague instructions, shifts blame, or avoids decisions, employees stop feeling secure in their roles. Doherty points out that clarity is the start of all performance. Without it, teams waste time, energy, and potential.
Poor communication from leaders is one of the biggest performance killers. A study by Project.co found that 96 percent of employees believe that a lack of communication is the main cause of workplace failures. When direction is unclear, confidence disappears. People start second-guessing themselves. Productivity drops.
Under poor managers, people learn to work in survival mode. They stop trying to exceed expectations because no one has defined what success looks like. Over time, they internalize the confusion as a lack of value.
3. People Do Not Quit Jobs. They Quit Managers
This line comes up more than once in Doherty’s book. And it holds true across every industry.
Bad managers create emotional friction. When leaders ignore personal growth, refuse feedback, or fail to show basic respect, employees start looking elsewhere. Even if the pay is decent or the role has potential, poor leadership pushes people out.
The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) reports that nearly 60 percent of workers say they have left a job specifically because of a bad manager. That is not just a statistic. It is a wake-up call.
Employees learn that leadership is deeply personal. It is not about managing output. It is about managing trust, consistency, and respect. When that trust breaks, people leave long before their resignation letters.
4. Culture Is Built From the Top
Doherty describes how bad habits from leaders filter through entire organizations. If a manager is lazy, dismissive, or unaccountable, others begin to follow. This becomes the cultural baseline. And over time, even new hires fall in line.
Culture is not about slogans on walls or benefits in the handbook. It is about repeated behavior. Employees observe their managers more than they listen to them. One act of hypocrisy or favoritism teaches more than ten policy emails.
Research from MIT Sloan shows that toxic workplace culture is the strongest predictor of attrition, ten times more than compensation. Culture starts with leadership. When a bad manager normalizes blame or inaction, the ripple effects are hard to reverse.
Employees learn quickly: if they want better, they might have to become the better leader themselves.
Final Thought
The worst managers still teach. Not by instruction, but by example. They show you what not to do. They reveal the cost of poor leadership. And if you are paying attention, they push you toward higher standards.
Doherty’s reflections show that leadership is never neutral. It either lifts people up or drags them down. Employees carry those lessons long after they leave.
If you have a bad manager, take notes. If you are a manager, ask yourself — what are your people learning from you?
