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{{trope}}
[[File:
{{quote|'''Pointy-haired boss:''' I saw the code for your computer program yesterday. It looked easy. It's just a bunch of typing. And half of the words were spelled wrong. And don't get me started on your overuse of colons.
'''Dilbert:''' [[Stealth Insult|They remind me of you, sir]].
|''[[Dilbert]]''}}
The living embodiment of [[The Peter Principle]]. This is a person who has been promoted way beyond his level of competency. He or she may have had a clue at some point, but has since then misplaced it. Sometimes
▲{{quote|'''Pointy-haired boss:''' I saw the code for your computer program yesterday. It looked easy. It's just a bunch of typing. And half of the words were spelled wrong. And don't get me started on your overuse of colons.<br />
▲'''Dilbert:''' [[Stealth Insult|They remind me of you, sir]].|''[[Dilbert (Comic Strip)|Dilbert]]''}}
Often the result of being [[Kicked Upstairs]]. [[Incompetence, Inc.]] is a likely place to find PHBs. Occasionally he is surrounded by ''very'' competent workers when [[Conservation of Competence]] is in effect.▼
▲The living embodiment of [[The Peter Principle]]. This is a person who has been promoted way beyond his level of competency. He or she may have had a clue at some point, but has since then misplaced it. Sometimes it is a [[Modern Major-General]].
Very often such a boss is portrayed as not only incompetent, but also a little evil:
▲Often the result of being [[Kicked Upstairs]]. [[Incompetence, Inc.]] is a likely place to find PHBs. Occasionally is surrounded by ''very'' competent workers when [[Conservation of Competence]] is in effect.
Occasionally he'll also hold the title of [[Benevolent Boss]] as well if his incompetence is more towards the job than
▲Very often such a boss is portrayed as not only incompetent, but also a little evil: The kind of guy who would steal credit from his employees and pin failure on them. In these cases he can be ''more'' contemptible than the [[Corrupt Corporate Executive]] whom he serves; while the [[Corrupt Corporate Executive]] sold his soul for money, power and fame, an evil Pointy-Haired Boss [[Evil Is Petty|sold his soul for nothing]] but a job little better than that of his employees, and doesn't seem bothered by it.
All too often this is [[Truth in Television]].▼
▲Occasionally he'll also hold the title of [[Benevolent Boss]] as well if his incompetence is more towards the job than their people skills; if he was very respected before [[The Peter Principle]] put him there his employees will likely cover for them.
▲All too often this is [[Truth in Television]].
{{examples}}
* The [[Trope Namers]] comes from the original [http://www.unitedmedia.com/comics/dilbert/the_characters/ Pointy-Haired Boss] in the daily comic strip and former animated TV series ''[[Dilbert (Comic Strip)|Dilbert]]'', seen above playing chess against a [[Fundamentally Funny Fruit|pineapple]] -- and ''losing''. (Count the captured pieces!)▼
** According to Scott Adams's 1996 book ''The Dilbert Principle'', the truly Pointy-Haired Boss is a reflection of the ''abandonment'' of the aforementioned Peter Principle. In the past, competent people were promoted until they reached a position just barely overreaching their talents; now, however, the ''absolutely'' incompetent are ''immediately'' [[Kicked Upstairs]] -- where, kept out of contact with the customer base and daily work load, they will do the least harm.▼
** Adams draws just about ''every'' manager with pointy hair. A minimum of 99% of them are lesser reflections of the original. Interestingly the PHB was originally a unnamed balding manager who was more [[Characterization Marches On|cruel than stupid]]. Then one day Adams accidentally drew the hair on the sides of his head slightly pointy and thought the resemblance to devil horns to be eerily appropriate. Then he started making him gradually more stupid while his hair kept getting pointier. And the rest is history. There's been the odd strip that actually ''sympathizes'' with the PHB and have him getting angry or frustrated for good reason. Presumably such instances come from the occasions when Adams solicits ideas from his readers, and a boss or manager was the one who got his attention. ▼
** Most strips actually are reasonably sympathetic to the PHB, inasmuch as it's not ''his'' fault he's woefully incompetent. Catbert is more explicitly antagonistic; the PHB is just trying to be a manager and failing horribly at it.▼
** [http://dilbert.com/strips/comic/2006-10-06/ Of course, he manages to get some pretty good evil moments in too.]▼
** [http://dilbert.com/strips/comic/2004-08-29/ And some useful moments as well.]▼
** Adams himself, when running a restaurant, realized that he was becoming a [[Pointy-Haired Boss]] himself, albeit a relatively benign one. ▼
* In ''[[Retail]]'', just about anybody at the level of store manager or higher is portrayed as a PHB.▼
* Ralph, Sally's original boss in ''[[Sally Forth Howard (Comic Strip)|Sally Forth Howard]]''.▼
* Rose Trellis (at least most of the time) in ''[[On the Fastrack (Comic Strip)|On the Fastrack]]''.▼
== Films -- Animation ==
* Mr. Perkins, the evil head of the Bank of Evil ([[Take That|formerly Lehman Bros]].) in ''[[Despicable Me]]'' certainly [[Shout-Out|looks like]] the the original (or [[Weapon Brown|the unrated version of him]]) but he's actually scarily competent.
* [[
* King Malbert the [[Fat Idiot]] from ''[[Igor]]''.
== Literature ==
Line 41 ⟶ 27:
* Several of the officers in ''[[Sharpe]]''.
* [[Historical Domain Character|Vice-Chancellor Nesselrode]] is portrayed as this in ''[[The Death of the Vazir Mukhtar]]''.
* Hamnpork, leader of the Clan in ''[[
* George O. Smith's first "Venus Equilateral" story has a particularly memorable example... or at least a particularly memorable screwup by a PHB. The guy arrives, starts screwing things up and annoying people, tensions run higher and higher until there are pointless fights almost constantly... then an engineer swears, runs up to the center of the rotating station to get his bearings, then runs to the air plant - then runs to scream out the PHB. When the PHB arrived on the station, he'd done an inspection tour, and been confused by the air plant; he'd been expecting some manner of machine, but all he'd found was a big plot of sawgrass, '''''so he had some workmen clear it out...'''''
* ''[[The Phantom of the Opera]]'': Deconstructed with Opera managers Richard and Moncharmin in the original book: Everybody knows they get their jobs [[Screw the Rules, I Have Connections|thanks to their connections]], [[Evil Is Petty|that they play petty politics with the singers instead of recognizing their true talent, and they solve any problem firing those employees involved…]] [[Screw the Rules, I Have Connections|except those who can defend themselves]]. [[Stealth Insult|Nobody really respects them and they are accustomed to cruel pranks]], and that is the cause they never take seriously the Phantom’s menaces and think that Debienne and Poligny’s warnings are just a [[Practical Joke]]… until the [[Falling Chandelier of Doom]] incident.
* ''[[Vorkosigan Saga|Falling Free]]:'' Bruce Van Atta: a former engineer, transferred to management where he would hopefully cause less damage. When Leo Graff sets off his plan to reconfigure the Quaddie's space station so that they can steal it, he tells Van Atta that he will be surprised by how much of the station, that Van Atta thinks is being decommissioned, can be "recycled." Van Atta insists that all of Leo's plans go through his
== Live-Action TV ==
* ''[[M*A*S*H (
** Lieutenant Colonel Henry Blake exhibited signs of this, as he was a good doctor but an almost criminally incompetent administrator. Radar practically ran the unit, only requiring Blake to sign off on documents. One time he got Blake to sign ''blank'' pieces of paper even as Blake railed about not knowing what he's signing.
** Blake was also completely aware that he was totally inept when it came to running the unit. He was completely competent when it came to make serious medical decisions (i.e. in the OR, or anything to do with patient care), but realized he didn't know what he was doing when it came to other administrative matters. To that end, he was completely happy to let Radar run things.
** The few times [[Jerkass|Frank]] [[The Neidermeyer|Burns]] was put in charge, he was literally a criminally incompetent leader (as well as a doctor, but that's another trope there), bordering on [[Bad Boss]] turf.
** Hawkeye himself, while regarded as the best surgeon, did not do well when put in charge of the unit. Anytime that situation presented itself, his friends would have reactions in the realm of "oh god NOOOOO"
* Lieutenant Brass comes off very much as an incompetent and biased boss in the first episode of ''[[
* ''[[Homicide: Life
** Detective Gharty is incompetent both as a beat cop ''and'' as the head of IAD, but turns out to be proficient when he finally lands as a homicide detective. When he is finally re-promoted to head the homicide division in the finale movie, he loses some of his competence again, becoming a shill for the department brass. It is noted that he's not entirely incompetent in the role, but in Giardello has some pretty big shoes to
** Averted cynically with Roger Gaffney. He is shown as an incompetent detective, especially when compared to the main characters and is rerouted to a dead
* The bosses of ''[[The Office]]'' are exemplars of two different kinds of PHB. Michael Scott of the American version is a classic illustration of [[The Peter Principle]]: he was (and is) a genuinely superb salesman, but was promoted to the post of Regional
** Although it's not made as clear as in the American series, in the final episode of the British series it is suggested that Brent actually ''is'' a pretty good salesman, but is definitely not management material or as talented as he thinks he is. As for the enigma, [[Word of God]] responded to criticisms that Brent would never reach a management position with a retort that a brief look around any kind of corporate-style organisation ([[Biting the Hand Humor|including]] [[The BBC]]) would reveal that major positions were being filled by people who were even ''worse'' than Brent.
* The laughably incompetent Colonel Klink of ''[[Hogan's Heroes]]''. It's been mentioned that he's from noble stock, so he most likely got the position through nepotism more than any real leadership ability. He confirms in one episode that his family pressured him into the military to get rid of him. However, he is also a career officer with decorations for bravery in [[
* Major Neuheim of ''[[Private Schulz]]'' is pretty much what Colonel Klink would be like if he was a die-hard Nazi.
* In ''[[30
{{quote|
* Captain Frank Hollister of ''[[
* The vacuous, hero-worshiping, management speak spouting Gus in ''[[Drop the Dead Donkey]]''. He would appear to be a living, breathing example of the Adams principle.
* Dougie in ''[[Enlightened]]'' is a sort of example. While he is actually rather good at programming, his people-management skills are horrible, and he is pretty socially inept.
* ISO Administrator Mike Goss in ''[[Defying Gravity]]'' is shaping up to be this, grinding subordinates faces in their mistakes while refusing to admit to or back away from his own.
* ''[[The Brittas Empire]]'' revolves around one of these running a previously ordinary leisure center. Gordon Brittas ([[Hey, It's That Guy!|played by]] [[Red Dwarf
* Arthur "Big Guy" Carlson, of ''[[WKRP in Cincinnati]]''.
* In ''[[Are You Being Served?
* ''[[The Wire]]'' has several outstanding examples, both in city government and the Baltimore Police Department, with almost all authority figures fitting in somewhere between [[Corrupt Corporate Executive]] and
* This is how Major Norton was portrayed in [[Disney]]'s ''[[Davy Crockett]]'' mini-series, though he may have just seemed this way against [[Badass|Davy]].
* In [[HBO]]'s miniseries ''[[Chernobyl (miniseries)|Chernobyl]]'', Chief Engineer Dyatlov is portrayed this way due to his insistence to run the fateful security test that caused the explosion despite other plant personal trying to warn him that the conditions for that test were the incorrect ones, and then his stubborn denial that anything wrong ever happened at the place (even after, or maybe ''because of'' seeing the ruins of the exploded reactor) and trying to obstruct any action to control the disaster. In a scary turn, they only sightly exaggerated the antics of the real person, mostly by removing the mention of an incident that served as the [[Freudian Excuse]] for his radioactive stubbornness.
== Music ==
* The "bankers in charge" in [[Doctor Steel]]'s "Lament for a Toy Factory."
== Newspaper Comics ==
▲* The [[Trope
▲** According to Scott Adams's 1996 book ''[[The Dilbert Principle]]'', the truly Pointy-Haired Boss is a reflection of the ''abandonment'' of the aforementioned [[The Peter Principle|Peter Principle]]. In the past, competent people were promoted until they reached a position just barely overreaching their talents; now, however, the ''absolutely'' incompetent are ''immediately'' [[Kicked Upstairs]]
▲** Adams draws just about ''every'' manager with pointy hair. A minimum of 99% of [//dilbert.com/strip/2003-10-16 them] are lesser reflections of the original. Interestingly the PHB was originally a unnamed balding manager who was more [[Characterization Marches On|cruel than stupid]]. Then one day Adams accidentally drew the hair on the sides of his head slightly pointy and thought the resemblance to devil horns to be eerily appropriate. Then he started making him gradually more stupid while his hair kept getting pointier. And the rest is history. There's been the odd strip that actually ''sympathizes'' with the PHB and have him getting angry or frustrated for good reason. Presumably such instances come from the occasions when Adams solicits ideas from his readers, and a boss or manager was the one who got his attention.
▲** Most strips actually are reasonably sympathetic to the PHB, inasmuch as it's not ''his'' fault he's woefully incompetent. Catbert is more explicitly antagonistic; the PHB is just trying to be a manager and failing horribly at it.
▲** [
*** PHB occasionally ''does'' [[Dumbass Has a Point|make an excellent point]]. [//dilbert.com/strip/2011-02-20]
▲** Adams himself, when running a restaurant, realized that he was becoming a
▲* In ''[[Retail]]'', just about anybody at the level of store manager or higher is portrayed as a PHB.
▲* Ralph, Sally's original boss in ''[[Sally Forth
▲* Rose Trellis (at least most of the time) in ''[[
== Tabletop Games ==
* Many [[RPG
* ''[[Paranoia (
== Video Games ==
* Department of Death Boss Don Copal in ''[[Grim Fandango]]'' might not have any actual hair, but if he did, it'd be pointy.
* Jeanne Frasoric, the head of the Bruma Mages Guild in ''[[The Elder Scrolls]]: [[The Elder Scrolls
* Cave Johnson from ''[[
== Web Comics ==
* The Magic School's Headmaster in ''[[Furmentation]]''.
* Lord Stanley the Tool from ''[[
* ''[[The Noob]]'' has the head developer of ''Clichequest''
* Mike in ''[[Between Failures]]'' is self-aware and trying not to be one of these, but his management training was inadequate to prepare him for the job, and those in charge of him have fobbed him off on one of the least important branch stores rather than trying to help him.
* George Fennec of ''[[Kevin and Kell]]'' is owner of Hare-Link, but only got that position because his daughter, the former owner, wanted to avoid a potential conflict of interest situation when her mother wanted her to promote her new stepfather. He makes hardly any useful decisions for the business except for once filling in for Kevin as a representative for a deal with Carrot Computers, and tends to be quite distracting. When he passes out after it dawns on him that his pregnant rabbit wife will likely have a litter of babies rather than just one,<ref>
* Horns, the ''[[Weapon Brown]]'' version of Dilbert's PHB is decidedly not like the original. For starters we're introduced to him as he's {{spoiler|''[[Klingon Promotion|murdering Mr. Dithers]]'' to take charge of The Syndicate}}. Then again {{spoiler|he forces the [[Mad Scientist]] version of Dilbert to rush CAL-v1.N and HOBS' awakening and ignores "Dilbert's" warnings that the two are unstable and uncontrollable}}.
* Mullet Boss from ''[[Basic Instructions]]'' fits this trope to a T
* Dr. Breign from ''[[
* ''[[Bug Martini|Bug]]'' people have no hair - being bugs - yet you can spot [http://www.bugmartini.com/comic/one-mans-boss-is-another-mans-bane/ the pointy-haired ones] right away.
* ''[[SSDD]]'' explains the mechanics of how this happens [http://www.poisonedminds.com/d/20080822.html here] (and following pages).
* Principal Beau Vine in ''[[Ozy and Millie]]'' seems to not have the slightest idea how to properly educate children and run a school, sticking to the very outdated belief that bullying is a good thing and successively enacting and cancelling a school uniform policy several times in a single school year based on how popular such policies were at the moment, among other things.
== Web Original ==
* ''[[Shiny Objects Videos]]'': The boss in "Magiconomy" is perfectly willing to banish his employees to the nether dimensions for making suggestions he doesn't like.
== Western Animation ==
* The ''[[Dilbert (
* Mr. Larrity from ''[[Code Monkeys]]'' outdoes perhaps even the [[Trope Namers]]; the man has no clue how to run a video game company (other than knowing that Games = $$$), generally treats his staff like crap, displays unapologetic [[Stay in
* The [[Maurice
* ''[[
* Major Monogram from ''[[
* Zapp Brannigan from ''[[
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Characters As Device]]
▲[[Category:Finagles Law]]
[[Category:Characterization Tropes]]
[[Category:Born in
[[Category:
[[Category:White Collar Tropes]]
[[Category:Competence Tropes]]
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