Thanks for updating us on how this went! Can you provide advice on how you were able to navigate this situation and get your salary increased?

I would tend to agree with Elle. My gut instinct was that this reflects what is happening to me currently, and I would suggest to use the offer from #1 to negotiate a better offer from #2. I am at a company now that does not recognize my education, experience or my accomplishments and has been promoting younger mangers to positions I explicitly asked to be considered for. There is a real ageism thing going on here, as they have all but said that they want to "groom" people that would do this for 30+ years, which at this point would make me 95. The 60+ vulnerability with COVID-19 has scared a lot of managers and I am seeing a lot getting passed over, because there is this impression that we have the proverbial "foot in the grave with the other foot on a banana peel" when many of us can likely give them another 10-15+ years. I am truly afraid that this tactic is going to backfire, as, because we are non-profit and what they will be doing is training and grooming a set of young workers that will bail in 4 or 5 years to higher paying state or federal jobs once they have passed that magic 5-year experience mark. In your situation, I would look at where you would likely be 5 years from now with each company. It is likely that Company #1, you will still be doing what you were hired to do, where company #2 has apparent room for growth and new and more exciting experiences. While working for an incompetent manager may have it's positives, this manager also has the ability to bring the whole team down. In spite of the best efforts of the teammates, poor planning and/or budgeting (which are often the sole responsibility of the manager) can reflect poorly on the entire team when a project derails. On the other hand, if the team is able to "pull it off" anyway, the manager ends up getting the credit for the success. This is a set-up for a lose-lose scenario, and that is a spot that nobody should want to be. I would vote for using the first offer to leverage negotiation for the second job and see where that takes you. Be careful of promises of future rewards for performance unless you have them in writing, though.

Just remember, "People don't leave jobs, they leave bad leaders."

Your best option: 1. Use the offer from job 1 to bring the offer from job 2 higher to something you can work with. What you get back in enjoying your life will be worth it, but if they play you, they probably won’t stop. Maybe it’s gender, maybe they are in a bad financial position with their balance sheet - mention ur additive value. Do not take offer 1. Incompetent and or toxic managers who make it there are gaming the system and they thrive on trapping people where they are because you become a piece of what helps them keep gaming the system. In 2007 I was faced with 2 bad options and I still have dreams about working for the company I left. The issue was two fold, the organization had no upward mobility because people loved it so much that no one left. I was 25 when I started and 28 when I left so I needed career growth. What made the matter to leave seem more pressing was that a huge national training event was going to be in New Orleans the next year to help stimulate the economy and I’m essential and would have to go there for meetings before. But I still had a suppressed immune system and chronic respiratory and sinus problems, had already become antibiotic resistant, and the issues with mold, etc., in New Orleans was all over the news. I knew despite how great my company was, they would not understand. I got two offers the same week. Job 1 was an amazing job at HHS as a GS 13 and job 2 was management consulting at the big 5. Job 1 was going to meet the salary, but they would not tell me who my supervisor would be. A peer of mine who recently left that office said that was a horrible sign and said I should decline based on how the particular unit offering the job functions. I accepted job 2 because great salary, working with the best and brightest, and still did work creating immediate results, but I worked for a manager that a friend of mine called “A house of cards” 2 years into the job. I asked what he meant by that. He said, she knows how to say all the right things, but she’s standing on all your shoulders and pretending she knows how to get the work done. My friend was a manager who just happened to end up there too. Through the years I’ve learned how the people who can’t “do”, charm, lie, and snake their way around. The bad ones will play dumb and another instant they talk like an expert. The house of cards people always have their game face of intelligence on tho. Both are the types of managers you should run from.

If you are currently employed, I would keep looking. If you absolutely have to pick one of these two, I'd go with whichever job will set you up to go even further in two years.

I would not worry about the title. All companies have different rules when it comes to titles and the truth is you can put whatever description that describes your position on a resume in the future that you want. When you say incompetent that can mean a lot of different things. Some are easy to adapt to and others can make life hell. So hard to say if option #1 is a good one. Option #2, do you need a job right now? If the salary is below what you want will it provide the lifestyle you want? If the answer to these questions is No then I would not accept it.

I agree with the above posters who said to take #1. You are an executive with 30 years of experience, never settle for less than what you are worth.

Job #1. Believe me - you can navigate the direct report - and establish relationships across the company that support you. If you are positive and effective even elevate Mr. Mediocre. He wont' recognize it - but others will. Don't take something below your market value. Just be sure the larger company culture doesn't protect mediocrity at the expense of the effective. I am currently in that situation. Take a wider look at the company - but don't take less than you are worth.

#1 or neither. Never take less than you’re worth.

Truthfully I would wait for Door #3.