Posted by denised in In his second post in the series, Buck delved into the psyche behind a lot of bad bosses…
12 bosses, less than 20% worth their salaries
Over the course of a long career in the paper industry I have worked for twelve bosses and I figure now that less than twenty percent of them were worth the salaries that they were paid. Only two of them could be considered skillful motivators, while a few were mediocre managers and quite a number of them were just outright terrible. Some of these former bosses are now deceased, a few have retired to Florida and sadly several of them are still actively in the paper industry, and as of this writing, continue to mismanage and de-motivate people.
Surely bosses that are afflicted with this often morale-busting behavioral trait are likely to mismanage themselves and their people into disaster. Such self-doubters will put you down — often with an audience — in order to advance themselves; they’ll keep you suppressed so as not to bring favorable attention to you from the higher ups. To keep you from shining they’ll give you few opportunities at which you can excel, or they’ll assign you the wrong ones so that it’s almost certain that you will fail. It has happened to me countless times and unless you’re working for an enlightened motivator it’s probably happening to you right now.
We put people in charge who have no right to be there…
Have you ever had a boss that you would jump off a cliff for if asked? Of course that’s a ridiculous question in its literal context, but you get my point. Conversely, have you ever had a boss that you would not lend a hand to if he or she was mired in quicksand? The fact is that we put people in charge who have no right to be there; they’re morale busters and are as harmful to the company as any competitive threat. But strangely nearly everyone in the organization sees it, yet senior management is blind to the malady and the mismanagement blunders on without change.
I have worked for all types of managers, from control freaks and Napoleons, self-doubters and egoists, to true leaders and motivators. They all had one thing in common however, and that was that I worked for them and as such my performance contributed greatly to the success and advancement of their careers. One thing that they did not have in common is the understanding of that fact. A simple truth is this: your people can elevate you and your company to great heights or they can drag you into the mud with their resentments when their creativity is stifled and their enthusiasm is suppressed.
The most dangerous managers in the workplace suffer from low self-esteem
I’m not a human behaviorist, nor am I academically qualified in the realm of psychology, but I can tell you that years of working with people and thus observing them closely has given me some remarkable insight. Arguably the most dangerous managers in the workplace are those that suffer from low self-esteem or diminished self-confidence, issues that these ill-managers struggle to conceal from the rest of us, vulnerabilities that are minefields that we as subordinates or colleagues can inadvertently stumble into. The bottom line is that the self-doubters are terrified of having you excel at your own job for fear that your superlative performance will threaten their own security.
Are the most dangerous managers in the workplace those who suffer from low self esteem? And maybe even more importantly, why are so many people in charge who shouldn’t be?
Buck Hamilton is a sales and marketing executive who’s spent over thirty years working in the paper distribution business. He’s a prolific writer who’s presently working on a book which narrates the stories of sixteen Vietnam War veterans. You can read his weekly series “Managing the Meanies: A Survival Guide” every Tuesday here on Really Bad Boss.
