Said It Here

How to manage an older employee with more experience who undermines you

Managing an older, highly experienced staff member who tries to prove they know more can create unwanted competition over credit and authority. This dynamic makes it difficult to give them room to contribute without letting them undermine your role or challenge your leadership.

Overview
People affected2 accounts across 2 forums
Workarounds foundNone recorded
Community agreement41 total upvotes

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In their words

Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.

r/Entrepreneur1 person · September 2026

“How do you handle someone who has more years of experience, but never wanted a leadership role until recently?”source ↗

“How do you give someone like that room to contribute without letting them undermine your role or create competition over who gets the credit?”source ↗

CleanOpsGuide · r/Entrepreneur · 35 upvotes
r/nonprofit1 person · September 2026

“I’m 31, and one of the staff members reporting to me is in his late 50s. I’m not concerned about the age difference, but I’m curious about how others have handled leading people who may have more professional/life experience than you”source ↗

aaalexm · r/nonprofit · 17 upvotes

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