Unethical, Self-Serving Leadership, Misaligned with Long-Term Value - Anonymous employee HEC Paris Employee Review

Two similar leadership styles stood out. One relied on presenting overly optimistic figures and built advancement on that narrative. Working from accurate data to truly improve would have required real effort, so the easier path was to highlight weaker team members, appear indispensable, and continuously push for distorted reported results. Expectations kept rising — largely serving personal gain — and pushing back could quickly create difficulties for you, leaving you stuck either way. Despite this, that approach was rewarded and recognised, which speaks for itself. Another approach focused on short-term KPIs over sustainable quality, ultimately using those results as leverage to move on — promoted — to a competitor. Which also speaks for itself. Both leaderships appeared to be approved by HR and their own management.