Category Archives for Tame Your Terrible Office Tyrant
Bad Boss Spotting
(Or Not Running Into One In The First Place) The sheer fact that bad bosses have spawned a movie franchise speaks to their pervasiveness. It’s not surprising – so much of your well-being depends on the person you work for. A good manager will help you thrive and bring out the best in you. A […]
Read MoreAre You In Danger Of Becoming An Office Tyrant?
Your Own Employees Can Help Bad bosses seem to be ubiquitous—employees’ surveys keep pointing that way. There are, though, few truly incorrigible office tyrants—most bad bosses behave badly episodically. When under stress or frustrated, many bosses—just like most humans—aren’t on their best behavior. Overwhelming stress can turn a suave charmer into an angry beast […]
Read MoreHave You Seen The Horrible Bosses Sequel?
(I Hope It Doesn’t Remind You Of Someone You Know) Horrible Bosses Two is in theaters, and whether you’ve seen the movie or not, whether you are a boss or an employee, it’s a good reminder to check whether those two words also sum up your current work situation. Bosses with exalted, entitled views of their authority […]
Read MoreBad Boss Readiness
Prevention Is The Best Cure In the realm of the omniscient Google, “good boss” returns way more results than “bad boss.” Yet, when I talk to people about their work, it’s usually the other way around. Even when giving their boss an overall OK, people still tend to bring up some feature they find annoying […]
Read MoreMitigate Mid-Management Tyrant Behavior
Tyrannical bosses can do a lot of damage in organizations. In particular, there are two types of bad bosses I hear the most about in the workplace – bullying and overly demanding. Both types can make subordinates fearful. When people are in a protective mode, it interferes with the company’s ability to generate innovation. As […]
Read MoreDealing with an Overly Demanding Boss
In a recent Forbes blog by Jacquelyn Smith, titled10 Tips For Dealing With An Overly Demanding Boss, I offered some thoughts and suggestions to help mitigate this type of bad boss behavior. I’d like to share them with you. Here are some observations I made in this very useful article: “An overly demanding boss doesn’t empathize […]
Read MoreLet Your Inner Child Play
Make Sure, Though, That It “Plays Nice” Recently, to mark Take Your Kids To Work Day Huffington Post held a webcast titled An Office Full Of Kids where executives, bloggers, and experts, including yours truly, discussed the significance of this day for both children and parents. My key point there was that adults can also […]
Read MoreBoss Attention Deficit Disorder
Doctors Can’t Treat It So It’s All Up To You While out-of-line behavior portrayed in the “Horrible Bosses” movie is thankfully more fiction than the norm, there’s no denying that some bosses can easily revert to babies in their terrible twos – fussy, unrestrained babies in corporate suits, otherwise known as a Terrible Office Tyrants – […]
Read MoreIs Election Talk A Minefield For You At Work?
The Political Divide Can Aggravate Office Politics This issue keeps raising its head every time an election comes around – political polarization seeping into everyday workplace affairs. I tackled it recently in my Psychology Today column. Until the country makes the decision in November, politics will continue to dominate our collective consciousness, and we’ll keep talking about […]
Read MoreA Self-Centered Boss: Burden To The Team?
So, you are doing great, you say. Terrific, now what about your unit, group, subdivision, department – the people who need your leadership? Take a careful look: do you pay enough attention to their needs and problems? It’s natural to be proud of one’s achievements – the results of your hard work and administrative talent. […]
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