Over at US NEWS today, I relate the story of one bad boss here in Minneapolis. These stories are worth repeating, if only to reinforce the notion that there are good bosses out there.
What is your definition of a bad boss? Can you share the story? Are there certain segments that have more than their fair share of bad bosses? How do you deal with a bad boss? Do you just quit?
Talk amongst ourselves.
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I have had my share of bad bosses. There are just some attorneys who simply don’t understand how to run a business. One boss I had, he was a micro manager. He would assign projects to two people in the firm, unbeknown to each of them, then when the project was done, he would say Johnny did his better than you Sally, basically pitting the associates against each other.
Another boss I had was a real asshole. I only worked for him for three months. There was a lot of dirt in that firm, sexual harassment, etc. My final straw was when he came into my office, screamed, yelled, threw a fit over something I had nothing to do with, then scrapped his arms across my desk knocking everything, including my computer keyboard onto the floor. He said as he walked out “clean that shit up.”
My letter of resignation, laying out all his dirty laundry and that on a few others as well as calling him out for being childish and immature was left in the main drive of the computer network for all to see.
I could go on and on and on. Lawyers get a bad rap and it is not because they are all alike. Some of the nicest, do anything for you people I’ve ever met were attorneys. There is just something about a power ego that really ruins it for some people.
The question, UsedToBeMe, is how do you cope or fix a bad boss like this, assuming you don’t have another option?
It seems like the guy that UsedToBeMe – by the way, what do your friends shorten that to? – is talking about went over the line from bad boss to mentally ill.
If you can’t leave, it seems like you have to realize that whatever you figure out, the other person is still going to be the boss. You are probably a lot more likely to be able to change yourself than change him or her, so you need to figure those changes out. Walk in his/her shoes if possible and see how the bad interactions may make sense from the other side. The sense might be a bit twisted or nutty or extremely self-serving, but at least you have a chance to figure out a strategy for not exacerbating the situation from your side. At its best, this approach may give you an insight into the boss’s behavior that allows you to even empathize with that position, find a middle ground or come to a truce situation. Walking in someone else’s shoes is a good way to give your own ego a rest for awhile and drop your own defenses.
All the better if the boss has no idea that is what you are doing.
We shorten it to U2BM.
Conrad makes a good point. I have never been able to change a boss. I’ve had to learn to adapt or move on. However, except for the firm where the guy threw all my stuff on the floor, I’ve never left a firm because the boss was an ass. I left the first firm because I’d just had my daughter and couldn’t live on $9 per hour. I went to the firm with the asshole; then I left and went… never mind. I’m going to make a post on this. I’ll have it to you tomorrow.
I’m looking forward to the post, because I like your writing and your perspective. It rings true.