‘She ghosted our colleague with cancer’: Meet the CEOs from hell

An old trope suggests that “people leave managers, not companies” has some merit, with broader research showing that 57 per cent of people have quit their jobs specifically because of their boss. Although there is little research to show just how influential a chief executive is in the average worker’s job satisfaction, as the leader of a business, their decisions, strategy and vision can trickle down to every aspect of a 9-5: from pay rises, bonuses, company culture, and flexibility. Depending on the size of the company, the chief executive might be an enigmatic figurehead only surfacing for company-wide meetings and keynote speeches, or alternatively they might insist on being more hands-on. A great chief executive inspires, sets strategy, and brings out the best in senior leadership. A toxic chief executive might lead through fear, destroy company reputation, be reticent to reward staff, or even punish or sack people who criticise their leadership. Or they might just be incompetent. The i Paper spoke to three anonymous workers about the worst chief executive behaviour they have ever witnessed. Shorts ‘She upped our office days, upped her own pay packet, and ghosted a senior staff member who was diagnosed with cancer’ Rachel*, 32, is a freelance journalist and lecturer I started at this company in 2023 as this new chief executive had just started. I was actually quite pleased about her appointment – it sounds silly, but I thought maybe having a woman in charge meant someone who was more understanding and sympathetic to workers. She revealed what type of person she was pretty fast. She actively seemed to want to make our lives worse for no reason whatsoever. She upped office days from three to four, and justified it with the rationale that the Chinese side of the company was in the office four days a week and more, without a single hint of irony. (China, the country famed for its workers’ rights.) She pushed this through despite the company being mostly women, who benefit far more from hybrid working. As I was a lowly writer, I had virtually no dealings with her directly, but we heard about the horrendous, out-of-touch things she’d say. While we all battled the trains to come into the office more frequently as she had mandated, she had a driver. When remarking on how few people there were in the office one day around Easter, someone pointed out that many had booked time off to be with their kids. She said they should have been sent to boarding school, like hers. She reportedly upped the pay packets of her and her executives, while junior members of staff were barely scraping by on £30,000. In 2024, she moved our Christmas party to January to cut costs (at the party, she and other execs refused to go near other staff, but later got on stage to sing karaoke together). She had just made a bunch of people redundant a week before. Perhaps the worst thing was how she treated an editor who had been at the company for several years. This editor was diagnosed with cancer shortly after maternity leave. The chief executive emailed her saying she was sorry and asked if there was anything she could do. This editor touched upon possibly receiving additional financial support while she underwent treatment. The chief executive never bothered to reply. She is the reason why I left that company and, later, full-time journalism. Apparently, things have gotten even worse at this company – she’s even gotten rid of the vending machine in attempts to save money. Many people I know hold her responsible for the abysmal culture. *** ‘People were known to quit within a week of working for him’ Johnny*, 40, works in marketing I worked at this agency in London with a German chief executive, Caleb*, who was a nightmare. Funnily enough, after I left this company, I subsequently found out all that recruiters know about this chief executive and how awful he is. For recruiters, it’s an absolute dream because this company has such a high staff turnover, and they don’t tell any of the candidates they send there that he’s really awful. People have been known to quit within a week of working with him. One project manager went on a business trip with him and left straight after the trip. When I first met him, he was very charming, but after two months in, I saw that he couldn’t take any contradiction and would regularly flip on people. He saw anything that wasn’t his exact idea as a challenge he needed to shut down, and he would humiliate people in front of others. He would treat you like an idiot. If you stood up to him, which some of my colleagues did, he would be cruel, often using information you had shared with him to humiliate you. He once said he was going to pay for therapy for one person because he was “unstable”. All the signs were there. When one of my colleagues joined, he got a warning from one of the senior directors, who basically said: “I’m leaving soon. Good luck working here, one thing you should know is if Caleb is in a bad mood, the whole agency is going to have a bad day.” I was really miserable when I was there, and I planned on quitting but then Covid happened six months in. It was a blessing in disguise because I could work on my portfolio from home and then eventually, I handed in my notice. Caleb found out and organised a 1:1 meeting where he asked me to tell him the salary I wanted in order to stay. A salary high enough to stay working for him didn’t exist. So I left. *** “He pestered members of the team that he was interested in – it bordered on sexual harassment” Phoebe*, 36, worked at a law firm Where do I start with this chief executive? I worked at a very small start-up – there were about four senior members of staff and everyone else (about 10 people) were all young people in their twenties and early thirties. From the start I could tell he was very hands-on. He interviewed me himself for my role and he was extremely charming at first – he hired me on the spot at the interview. I learned quickly that if he liked you, then you were fine. If he didn’t, he would make your life a nightmare. Talking down to you in meetings, saying your work was “s***”. He pestered members of the team that he was interested in – it bordered on sexual harassment. Once I was due to go on a work trip to Paris and he called me in for a meeting beforehand and insinuated very heavily that I should do whatever I needed to “woo” and “secure” a male client. It was disgusting. Other people in the office said that he directly hit on them and made inappropriate comments. He also pitted members of the team against each other. The environment was so incredibly toxic that multiple people were signed off with stress, sometimes at the same time. If he had his way, we would have all hated each other. But we actually trauma-bonded as a result and most of us got out within five years of each other. He eventually got ousted for misconduct. Really not surprised. * Names have been changed