My boss and the CEO are way too close.

My boss and the CEO are way too close.

My boss isn’t very skilled, and most of the time, she just parrots back the things I say and agrees with my direction and vision. Initially, I thought this was great, but after being in the role for six months, I’m starting to sense that she’s just pumping me for information to share with the CEO. For example, she recently asked if I had completed my goals for the year. I asked her about hers, as they should be aligned with mine. She seemed sheepish, so I probed further and asked, "Well, what goals do you have with your boss—the CEO?" She replied, "Oh, none," and then added, "You played that well." I had no idea what she meant, and I walked away thinking I had offended her. Only later did it dawn on me that she might need my ideas to share with the CEO.

For context, I took this role because of the title and salary, but the organization's maturity is far below the industry standards I’m used to. Based on my previous experience, I could easily be the CEO here, as I’ve worked at a much larger scale in other companies.

On Friday, there was an opportunity to secure additional resources, something I helped enable through a workload review with HR. HR had set it up so that my manager would stay out of it, but I kept her in the loop to avoid any surprises. Now, she’s playing dumb about the need for a new hire—acting completely blank. I interpret this as her not wanting to ask for more resources, which makes no sense given the entire purpose of the review. Her incompetence is mind-boggling.

I set up time with her after the meeting to discuss it and asked if there was anything she needed to tell me or wanted to say. She turned red and insisted that nothing was wrong, even though it was clear something was off. She went on to agree with all my points but still claimed everything was fine. That same day, the CEO was fawning over me, likely because my reaction and the meeting I called seemed to have pushed some sort of panic button.

There’s a total values clash here. I work hard, aim to learn consistently, and genuinely want to make an impact. Meanwhile, she seems to have managed her career by taking others' ideas or undermining them. I’m not happy at all, to be fair. It's time to move on