That quip doesn't necessarily mean your direct manager, though. If the company doesn't support employee growth, or is ethically dodgy, those are management deci

That quip doesn't necessarily mean your direct manager, though. If the company doesn't support employee growth, or is ethically dodgy, those are management decisions. Anecdotal, but I've definitely had a situation where my team and direct manager were fantastic for two years until the director (my manager's manager) got replaced. The new direcror had a big meeting with all the managers re: "things are going to change around here!" Within a week, there was a palpable change in the office atmosphere and everything started going downhill as the managers were forced to implement policies that I know for a fact they had fought against. It wasn't my manager that was bad; but he was put in a bad position by his own management who clearly had no interest in hearing from the plebs. So yeah ... I did leave because of a bad manager; it just wasn't my direct manager.