Boss takes credit for team's work on a big presentation, only to be publicly reprimanded by his own boss when he fails to present the data properly: ‘Classic corporate leadership’

Author image for Bar Mor Hazut
Bar Mor Hazut • Senior Editor
Oct 20, 2025 7:00 PM EDT

One of the most underrated qualities that bosses should always possess is the ability to give their employees credit for their hard work. Why is it so difficult for those in management to throw in a good word here and there for those who give their hearts and souls to their work?

Take the boss in the story below as an example. Instead of giving his employees the credit they deserved for preparing the presentation for a company conference, he decided to take everything they prepared and present it alone. All because they are "too inexperienced to present something important to the seniors."

However, instead of actually using his employees' data and effort for the presentation, the boss decided to practically wing it. He did the presentation with one slide only, lacking all the data, charts, insights, and results his employees put together. When the boss was done, his own boss asked about the actual analysis, and the lack of answers caused the big boss to humiliate the presenting boss in front of the entire company.

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  • Did that actually help the employees get credit for the hard work they did? Not really. Keep scrolling to read what happened next…

  • 01
    Cheezburger Image 10565672704
    via Rido

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • 02

    My boss got humiliated by his boss in front of all of us

    I had been working for the entire week on this big presentation which represented our team's efforts for a business battle for the company.
    via Mr_Coco1234
  • 03
    Then my manager decides he doesn't 'trust' our work and will present it himself. Says we're too inexperienced to present something important to the seniors.
    via Mr_Coco1234
  • 04
    I hand over all the material and let him figure out how to present it. On D-Day, he enters the stage when our part came up and up comes only one slide containing extremely vague bullet points about 'optimizing performance', 'cross-functional alignment', 'customer- centric approach.' That's it.
    via Mr_Coco1234
  • 05
    All the actual data, charts, insights, and results that we built were completely gone. His boss stares at the screen for a few seconds and asks if this is the summary and where's the actual analysis?
    via Mr_Coco1234
  • 06
    The entire meeting room was dead silent. The manager tries to ad-lib through it about how the details are in progress and his boss just tears into him in front of everyone, literally yelling that he had three weeks and this is all he brought?
    via Mr_Coco1234
  • 07
    After the meeting, he comes back to our room furious at the team. Apparently it's our fault he didn't include our work because we didn't emphasize which areas were important.
    via Mr_Coco1234
  • 08
    So yeah. He didn't trust his team, sabotaged his own presentation, and got publicly humiliated and then blamed the people who gave all the information to him.
    via Mr_Coco1234
  • 09
    Classic corporate leadership where management is just looking at who comes in on time without any understanding of how to represent the work or about their own work.
    via Mr_Coco1234
  • 10
    gbroon My boss tends takes over if it involves going to director level stuff. He trusts the work we do but he has decades of experience in how to spin it to get them to agree. Some things need dumbed down, some things done in more detail and some is just "don't say this as one of the directors won't agree as it's counter to what he wants'. He makes sure everything is 100% prepared and leaves gaps he wants them to ask about that he has already prepared.
    via gbroon
  • 11
    Cheezburger Image 10565672960
    via kasto

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • 12
    OP Mr_Coco1234 I have experience dealing with directors but the company I am at now is very particular about layers so I have to comply accordingly.
    via Mr_Coco1234
  • 13
    Thiccccasaurus_Rex Should've followed up to "boss's boss" 1:1 and explained you had everything prepared and handed it off to boss. Never miss an opportunity like this.
    via Thiccccasaurus_Rex
  • 14
    OP Mr_Coco1234 Its gonna be terrible for me if that happens. One guy under me tried pulling this and he was in perpetual shit list with management before he eventually left.
    via Mr_Coco1234
  • 15
    Badesign So easy to say this in an online circle <. The decision to openly undermine a direct supervisor at all, let alone IN FRONT of their superiors AND your colleagues may carry heavily nuanced social and psychological consequences.
    via Badesign
  • 16
    OP Mr_Coco1234 Completely agreed. In a meeting, you have to be united and can't just say something completely opposite otherwise it just reflects poorly on the entire team.
    via Mr_Coco1234
  • 17
    ThatWasBrilliant What the h is a business battle??
    via ThatWasBrilliant
  • 18
    OP Mr_Coco1234 Basically an overall plan to achieve a particular goal. For e.g. if you want to grow the company by 100% in a year and you need investment, you show the investors what you are going to do to achieve that. In this case, its a series of goals (called. battles here) that need to be achieved to reach that 100% growth. Hope that makes sense.
    via Mr_Coco1234
  • 19
    Flop_House_Valet So hes actually capable of doing his job. Gotta love it when your leadership isnt a fucking joke or a head complete di
    via Flop_House_Valet
  • 20
    psycho-batcat While big boss was there none of you were bold enough to mention how the manager stole your presentation and tried to present it as his own and that's why it flopped. Yall should have put him on the spot even harder
    via psycho-batcat
  • 21
    Tim-Sylvester Right? Follow up with an email with the original material "here's what we gave him, Imk if you have any questions."
    via Tim-Sylvester
  • 22
    JustmyOpinion444 I once had a total idiot for a boss who LOVED various charts. Just tell me the types of charts a big boss likes, and I can make the data become it. I work in government and I absolutely know how to spin data and talk to idiots.
    via JustmyOpinion444
  • 23
    FeijoadaAceitavel But do it in private. Otherwise the boss will mark him as a target.
    via FeijoadaAceitavel

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boss workplace-stories employee manager job presentation tales-from-the-workplace reddit story ceo overworked-employees workplace Reddit company funny
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