In the United States Navy, there are many chief petty officers. In most every command in the Navy, there is a master chief petty officer who advises the commanding officer on matters concerning his sailors. But, there is only one person who holds the job of “Master Chief Petty Officer of The Navy” (MCPON), and that for now, is Steven S. Giordano who allegedly advises the Chief of Naval Operations CNO, the number one line officer in the United States Navy.
Giordano as MCPON is supposed to be playing a key role in setting Navy policy for enlisted troops and their families. His rating is “SG/IW,” – SG means qualified in submarines, but not detailed by the submarine community, and IW means “Information Warfare Specialist.”
Recently, complaints have arisen against Giordano saying that he is verbally abusive to his subordinates and has created a hostile work environment. Our investigation of Giordano’s management style revealed a cesspool of ignorant and intolerable behavior towards most all of his subordinates.
Unfortunately, no one on the MCC staff is a clinical psychologist. But, we have concluded that Giordano may be suffering from a plethora of psychological maladies. One of those is a Napoleon complex that occurs in people of short stature. But, regardless of Giordano’s actual height, he seems to fit all the elements of a person stricken with a severe case of Napoleonic complex, which is characterized by overly-aggressive or domineering social behavior. To put it in layman’s terms, he’s a bona-fide asshole.
His overbearing demeanor carries the implication that such behavior is compensatory for the subject’s stature or how he perceives himself. Napoleon complex is also used to describe people who are driven by a perceived handicap to overcompensate in other aspects of their lives, for being short or having a small penis.
Sources say Giordano is absolutely consumed by the trappings of his office and appears to do all he can to grab even more perks. He wants to have a personal cook and personal airplane. He views his position at Master Chief of the Navy as the equivalent of a vice admiral, so anything a vice admiral gets…. he also wants demands. Giordano has often tried to get a driver to deliver him to and from official functions, or take him to the airport. He’s ordered staff members to collect his luggage from his hotel rooms, load up the car and, ‘bring the car around.’
“It was like working for a pop star of Hollywood diva,” said a senior enlisted sailor. It was like working for a manic-depressive who would be jovial one minute, then suddenly erupt like Mount Vesuvius, banging his desk and yelling at subordinates who had nothing to do with whatever he was blowing up about.
This roller-coaster personality created the classic TOXIC work environment, and the result of this toxic climate was that people were bailing out left and right. You know it’s bad when a sailor will give up what should be choice shore duty and beg to be sent back to a sea-going unit immediately.
The mass exodus from those working for Giordano caused a precipitous erosion of corporate knowledge. When working for a highly visible office in Washington, one must be conscious of the protocols that make the office function efficiently. There is an ebb and flow to the workings of such an office in Washington. This ebb and flow is disrupted or dismantled when people with years of service and experience look for any opportunity to get the hell out outta there.
When Giordano was a first class petty officer, misconduct nearly ended his Navy career. We thank a reader (John) who pointed us to a very good Navy Times article where Giordano was interviewed about his past transgressions.
Many who have worked under or near Giordano say he’s nothing more than a bullshit artist who has all the officers buffaloed. He has no real command of the technical aspects of his job and changes his mind nearly fifty times a day on any given task. The enlisted personnel say it is just so frustrating because when everything is all screwed up, primarily because of Giordano and his stupid decisions. Giordano has a tendancy to blame everyone but himself when things go south.
Giordano’s term of service as Master Chief of the Navy is for two years, but the CNO can extend that another two years. That’s not likely to happen given the splash of bad not-so-flattering articles on this and other websites. But, wait a minute…. this brings the spotlight around on the Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral Richardson. Does anyone really believe the Admiral doesn’t know what’s going on in Giordano’s office? If he doesn’t, the CNO needs to go out the door with him.
Does the CNO know that Giordano was pressing his staff to get the Navy to issue him fine china allegedly for hosting formal dinners at his home?
Complaints about Giordano prompted a Navy Inspector General investigation, which gives all the top brass an out for now. They don’t have to talk about it and make any decisions regarding Giordano for the present. How convenient.
It was different in the old Navy. In the old days, the admiral’s chief of staff would conduct and informal but thorough investigation, then report back to the boss. It would go something like this…
“Sir, it is exactly what we feared. The little bastard is out of control and making us all look bad.” To which the admiral would probably respond, “Get a box and clean our his desk and have that little motherfucker escorted out of this building today. Then get a hold of the Bureau of Naval Personnel to assign someone more competent for the job of MCPON.”
That was during a time when we had real leaders, not politicians who would wet their finger to check which way the political wind was blowing. Ah yes, those where the good old days. Adm. Richardson, if you care about the rank and file of the Navy, then get rid of this prima-donna ASAP.