[gwnywg]

Long time ago I worked in a startup where CEO hired a manager who aspired to become CxO. This guy was talking bad things behind people backs and constantly undermining everyone when nobody except CEO was in the room (I witnessed this a few times because inutially I was on very good terms with CEO but later my name was trashed too). This guy was collecting whatever information he could and then was actively exploiting it to prove people are not competent. He created such toxic environment that in the end CEO trusted nobody, and when CEO realised what was going on it was too late. That guy was already badmouthing CEO in front of investors so CEO was removed. I took a lesson from this, that talking behind people's backs is serious red flag.