Did your company recently hire a new executive? And is that leader badmouthing the systems you and your colleagues spent years building?

You may not realize it, but new executives sometimes have a perverse incentive to make the current state of affairs look bad. By making it look like the company is ablaze, they cast themselves as the hero who will make everything better.

Don’t believe me? Let me paint a picture for you…

You just joined a company as Vice President of Marketing. The previous VP (Tim) just left, and the company founders hope you can do everything Tim could and more.

As you dive into the company’s marketing processes, you notice a few small problems and things you would have done differently.

Even though the team’s process doesn’t actually look that bad, you decide to dramatize the problems to the founders. You do this for a few reasons:

1. You want to prove you’re worth your (very generous) salary.
2. You want to look like a savior. The executives didn’t know that (*gasp*) things were so bad. Thank goodness you’re there to save the day. And by looking like a savior, you also subtly reinforce the intelligence of the founders or executives who were smart enough to hire you, so it’s a win-win (for everyone except poor Timmy).
3. If you make the current state of affairs look bad, people will give you more time to turn the ship around. Rather than expecting big changes in three to six months, they may give you nine months.
4. If you come in and say, “Everything is great,” the founders may wonder why they hired you. Are you really worth the money if you’re not going to make big improvements?
5. By pointing out someone else’s mistakes, you lift yourself above that person. It’s the business version of what happens daily on elementary school playgrounds.

You convince yourself that the bigger the flames, the better you’ll look when you come in and extinguish the fire.

So you tell your boss and the rest of the executive team things like:

• “We’re not generating enough qualified leads and our top-of-funnel activities are converting at an abysmal rate. We’ll have to practically start from scratch with a few of our internal processes.”
• “I’ve never seen a marketing process this broken before. We’ve got our work cut out for us to turn things around, but I’m confident we can do it.”
• “The team needs a lot of work. But I’ve been able to turn around operations like this before, it’s just going to take some time.”

By making it look like the company is ablaze, you set a lower bar for yourself.

This Happens All the Time

I’ve watched this happen at multiple companies, and I’ve begun calling it the “Burning Business Bias.”

The Burning Business Bias is the idea that it’s in the best interest of a new executive to make the company’s existing processes sound horrible — at least in the short term. The worse the current state of affairs, the better they’ll look later when everything (incrementally) improves.

Not only have I witnessed other executives leverage this bias, I’ve also felt its allure personally.

Twice in the past few years, I’ve joined companies as a member of the senior leadership team, and I realized it would be all too easy to disparage the company’s operations.

I withstood the temptation because that kind of communication felt dishonest and manipulative, but I understand why some executives give in. They do so because disparaging the last leader sometimes seems like a shortcut to internal kudos and street cred. They think they’re proving their worth and casting themselves in a positive light.

What’s Wrong with This Mentality

(First, let’s acknowledge that this entire mentality is super shady. It’s never okay to lie and manipulate. Doing the right thing should be reason enough for new leaders to avoid this tactic, but there are also self-serving reasons why people shouldn’t do it.)

Anyone who uses this tactic may think they’re being clever, but they’re also creating subtle problems that will likely blow up in their face.

The Burning Business Bias is a recipe for drama, backbiting, and hurt feelings. It can create enemies and rub tenured employees the wrong way.

Many employees from “Tim’s” old regime are probably still around. Not only do some of them feel allegiance to their old boss, but they probably helped develop some of the programs and processes the newbie is bashing.

Plus, savvy company founders and senior executives will see through this type of manipulative behavior. It’s also just a scuzzy way to do business. It’s the business version of “yellow journalism.”

How to React When You See This Behavior

If you’re an individual contributor and your company just hired a new executive who’s lamenting the blazing fire they walked into, there are several things you can do:

1. Empathize with their motivations for making things seem so bad.

As we’ve discussed, there are many reasons why a new leader may exaggerate problems. Try to empathize with them. See the world from their perspective.

Leadership is difficult, and they’re stressed from stepping into this new role. Don’t excuse the behavior but try to understand it.

2. Use the situation as a chance to self-reflect.

It’s possible the leader isn’t exaggerating and the team’s existing processes actually are that bad. If that’s the case, you can probably learn a lot from this person.

If they’ve fixed similar problems at other struggling companies, hopefully they can do it at your company too.

3. Buckle up and get ready to embrace change.

Whether or not the executive is exaggerating, they’ve been tasked to come in and make improvements. They’re paid to find new and better ways of doing things. That’s their job.

Keep an open mind to any changes they suggest. Although change can be painful, it’s also necessary.

4. Recognize that the storm will pass.

It’s frustrating to listen to someone disparage the work you’ve put in and the processes you’ve built. But with each day that passes, problems that still exist become more associated with the new leader instead of the last one.

It’s one thing for an executive to malign the department in their first month (when it feels like someone else’s department), but they can’t keep humming that tune once they’ve been around for three or four months. By that point, any problems that remain are their problems. And if they speak poorly of anything, they’re just pointing the finger at themselves.

In other words, take comfort in knowing the Burning Business Bias only lasts for a short time. Things will get better.

And if they don’t, that executive may not be around very long anyway.

*A version of this article originally appeared on Fast Company.