Working for Idiots

Believe it or not, it is possible that you are a very nice person, but a horrible boss.  The stuff of Hollywood legends, and blog anti-heroes is that of the grand-mal, asshole boss.  The person who is evil incarnate, and takes great pleasure in making others miserable.

I’ve worked in dozens of organizations either as an employee, contractor or consultant – and I’ve never met this person.  I have met a number of horrible bosses, and usually they qualify as horrible for much more subtle reasons than sitting in a corner office, and laughing like Dr. Evil while pulling the wings off living insects.  Below are some of the most common horrible boss types.

Everybody’s Best Friend – this is the most common type of horrible boss.  This person has a high need to be liked by others, and should therefore never be put in a position of leadership.  Unfortunately, we usually promote people who are good technically at the work, and rarely test a person’s ability to be disliked by others – a core skill for leaders.

Mr. Insecure – This poor guy feels pressure from above because he’s probably not very good at what he does.  He also thinks this peers and his direct reports are out to get him.  As a result, he takes irrational actions and makes poor decisions.  If you wait it out long enough, this guy usually manages to get himself fired.

Ms. Moody – This person is delightful one day, and a nightmare the next.  You need to look for the cues in the morning as to what kind of day she is having.  You can also be rest assured that when she’s having a bad day, you’ll have a bad day.

The Visionary – this person can be a good leader if and when he has a brilliant manager back him up.  When this ingredient is missing, this is the person that comes up with a bunch of great ideas, but has no ability to implement them.  One tell-tale sign of this type of horrible boss is assigning the same task to several different people.

The Prince of Darkness – this type of horrible boss desperately reinforces the hierarchy at every chance.  She will usually do this because she never really expected to amount to much, and probably feels like an imposter much of the time.  She’s so desperate not to be discovered, that she’ll do anything not to compromise her place on the corporate food chain.

Armed with this information, it is now your job to ensure that YOU are not any of these types of horrible boss.  You can’t change their behavior (unless of course you choose to commit bossicide), but you can make sure that your direct reports are never exposed to such things.