What Happens When a Big-Corp Executive Joins a Small Company

A 20-year insider’s story about titles, reality, and the kind of disappointment you can’t explain until everyone experiences it.

I’ve been with this company for nearly twenty years.

There were times when, every time the payment due date arrived,
I had to endure collection calls just to keep things moving.

We survived that period. The business stabilized.
We even started talking about new projects again.

That’s when something changed.

A “former big-corp executive” joined our small company as an executive.

Everyone expected something different.
Something to learn.
Something “bigger.”

That expectation didn’t last long.

I. The High-Salary “New Executive”

More people with impressive titles from large companies began to arrive as executives.

Formats changed.
Work that never existed suddenly became “mandatory.”
Meetings multiplied.

Meetings I used to have directly with the CEO turned into something else:

meetings about how to meet the CEO—pre-meetings with Executive A, and then more pre-meetings.

I was already drowning in actual work, but I revised the deck exactly as Executive A demanded.

Then, the CEO meeting.

“Why did you set the direction like this?
Change it to this direction and report again.”

But my original direction was right…

And in that exact moment, Executive A performed a perfect corporate maneuver.

“It seems the manager didn’t consider that direction yet.
We’ll revise it and report back.”

Wait… is this what “big-corp executive ability” looks like?

That’s when I realized I needed to be careful.

II. Waiting

Every one-on-one report required me to repeat what I had already explained.

Why am I explaining the same thing again and again to someone paid so much?

Whenever I proposed something, the answer was always the same:

“Then organize your thoughts into a proposal and report it.”

I worked until 1 a.m. last night… and now a proposal?

When I shared a good idea, it would somehow become his idea—delivered to the CEO as if it originated there.

And the responsibilities? He would step back—smoothly, politely—until I was carrying the whole thing.

The disappointment I felt wasn’t visible to the CEO, or to other teams.

He bought lunch often (with the company card).
He carried authority.
The “former big-corp executive” aura still looked mysterious to many people here.

Before anyone actually worked with him, they held back judgment.

I’ve spent almost thirty years in corporate life.
If I spoke up too early, I’d simply look like someone gossiping.

So I waited.

Eight months later, people started coming to me.

“What is wrong with him?
We have to explain the same thing again and again.
His stubbornness makes no sense.
How did you endure this?”

That’s when the same label began to spread across teams: “He doesn’t communicate.”

III. The Back-Room Illusion

“Big-corp executive” sounds powerful, but leaving in the middle often means something else:

influence faded, authority shrank, or the person fell behind the times.

It also means they’ve been away from hands-on work for a long time—used to having people under them to execute everything.

Yet many stay stuck in their former glory.

“Do you know how many people were under me?
A 20-person organization was nothing.”

But a “20-person organization” in a small company is not the same world as 20 people in a large corporation.

Big Company vs. ~20-Person Small Company

Category	Big Company	~20-Person Small Company
Hiring	Can recruit strong talent when needed	On interview day, only 1–2 out of 5 may actually show up
Employee mindset	Pride in brand; higher loyalty	Always considers other options; keeps the resume ready
Work structure	Clear division of roles	One person often does multiple roles
Support teams	Many supporting departments	Little to none; people improvise
Competitive edge	System and organizational power	Individual capability and ownership
Investment	Can invest ahead (R&D, facilities)	Even hiring is expensive; budgets are tight
Time horizon	Can wait for results	“So when does revenue happen?” comes first

In big companies, the environment supports people.
In small companies, people support the environment.

IV. Why Would the CEO Do That?

Why pay an outside executive more than the people who survived the hardest years together?

“You were always like that.”
“At your age, where else would you go?”

Back when we were struggling, it sounded like we’d be rewarded someday.

Did the CEO’s position change once things got better?

When the sales director—who had been doing three jobs at once—said he was leaving, the CEO said:

“I’ll take care of you. Just stay.”
“Then let’s put it in a contract.”
“Well… about that…”
“It’s fine. I’m done.”

V. One Year Later

A month ago, Executive A’s resignation was finalized.

“Return the company card on your last day.”

Sometimes it feels like he was the real winner.

Sometimes it feels like this is simply how corporate life works.

Titles remain on paper.
But competence is proven only in real environments.

*This is a personal experience story. Names and details have been generalized.