“The project team let me down, madam CEO.” If this were a movie, this project manager would be dressed in all black and wearing a black cape. This personality type is one of the worst. Rob Thomsett, international author and speaker, stated in his book Radical Project Management that projects fail because of context, not content. If this is true, then it is how the project manager managed the information and not necessarily how the team performed. A team can be performing poorly, but the project manager could head that off with proper communication. To let the project fail overall, and then to blame the team, is the villainy of this role.

Traitors believe that if they blame the team, then they will get off without a warning. The truth is, this makes them look much worse. The executive managers know who or what failed, and by blaming the team, the executives also know that they can no longer trust him or her. Traitors think that they are protected as they throw team members to the flames of blame. This personality type generally only happens once. The team members will take care of the rest.