Boss or Bully, or Both

Most people work for decent, self-respecting owners, executives, and managers who care about them and seek the best in people. But sometimes we run into a brash, egotistical boss who demonstrates behaviors that make us wonder how he ever got to where he is, and, moreover, how he keeps that role as an owner or leader of a business or department.

You know the kind of person I’m writing about. It’s that intense personality who can go from charming to hateful in a matter of seconds. It’s the person who sets the tone for your entire day and whose name is whispered around the lunch room or water cooler. It’s the person who is pathological so often as to be a bully in the business. I’ve worked around people like that, and so have you.

Often, these are the behaviors of highly determined, highly aggressive, and highly paranoid people who don’t know who they can trust because of their own complex, deep-seated fears and insecurities. Most of us have realistic uncertainly about many things because we are rational and clear-thinking. But not the boss who thinks he knows everything, berates people, dishes out expletives, and exhibits no guilt or shame in doing so.

We all have choices. We can choose to tolerate such behavior because the rewards are worthwhile, or we can simply move on because it isn’t worth the effort to endure. That’s my real message. Each of us has to decide if the fit is right and if the pain inflicted by the bully is worth it. What do you think?

Here are a few Business & Life Tips to think about….

Business Tips:

• People don’t leave bad firms. They leave bad bosses and supervisors. If you want to retain good staff, treat people right.
• You need a mentor when the friction between family members in business becomes greater than the joy of working together.
• If you hire people who believe what you believe and why you believe it, you will have people who are motivated by the right things.

Life Tips:

• Never respond to a bully in a bully’s language or style. You will enter his kingdom, and lose. Instead, be yourself, and be confident.
• People who play it safe all the time hide behind the faulty notion that being politically correct is the same as being honest.
• Needy people want to be fed by willing supporters who feed their needs. Be careful not to get caught in the trap as an enabler.

Tags: Advice, Aggressive, Behavior, Boss, Bully, Business Development, Business Tips, Care, Charming, Clear-thinking, Crisis Management, Department, Developing Leaders, Egotistical, Executive, Fear, Guilt, Hateful, Humility, Insecurities, Intense, Knowledge, Leadership Skills, Life Tips, manager, owner, Paranoid, Rational, Realistic, Reputation, Reward, Sets the Tone, Shame, Success, The Mind of a Leader, Tolerate, Trust, Work