Anti-Bad Boss Tactic Number One: Don’t Take It Personally!

When researchers Leslie Velsor and Van Velsor  looked at studies across different organizations and different employees, they found that failed managers had certain things in common.

Two of these are of particular interest when it comes to Bad Bosses:

According to the Veslors, failed managers have:

“Poor interpersonal skills. Horrible managers look down on you from on high like irascible emperors. They are insensitive, cold and as likely to be nice to you as give their pay-checks to charity.

“Can't get the work done. They repeatedly set overly ambitious targets and then repeatedly fail to meet them. They don't follow through on their promises and they're likely to betray your trust.”

Let’s review: An arrogant boss who doesn’t care about how you feel or what you think, loads you up with impossible projects/deadlines, doesn’t support you with resources or guidance, and--just to finish this off from my research--blames you when the project/deadline falls through.

OK! That pretty much defines Bad Bosses in a nutshell. 

Now that you know the problem, what are you going to do about it?

First thing I would suggest, is that you quit taking anything your Bad Boss does personally. In other words, it’s not because you are somehow deficient, defective, untalented or unskilled that your Bad Boss behaves the way he or she does. It’s because that’s who your Bad Boss is.

So when you get blamed, hassled or otherwise made miserable, as long as you’ve done the very best you know how, remind yourself: “It’s not me, it’s my horrible boss.”

Your self-esteem will thank you.