In Praise of the "Anti-Mentor"

The hotshot vice-president who took over where I worked when I was in my 20s was a great anti-mentor. Arrogant, quick-tempered, and controlling, it took him only about six months to turn a great department into a loose collection of warring tribal fiefdoms. I knew I wanted out, so I observed what I thought at the time was proper etiquette: I told him face to face that I wanted to transfer to a different department. He tried to talk me out of it, but finally relented, extracting only one promise: I would allow him to tell the president of our organization about the change.

What I didn't know at the time was that he and the president (his boss) were at war over some of the same characteristics that were causing me to flee and that he intended to use my departure as a weapon against the president (who had been a friend and sponsor of mine for a number of years). He told the president that I was leaving my post because I was tired of the president meddling in the affairs of our department. Nothing could have been further from the truth, but the president appeared to believe him and was so offended by the statement that it took several years to repair my relationship with him.