Bad bosses

[ZenHalfTimeCrock]

Interestingly, a study at the University of Surrey found that the personality traits of thirty-nine high-ranking managers matched, and even exceeded, the narcissistic, dictatorial and manipulative tendencies typically exhibited by psychiatric patients and psychopaths, all concealed behind a veneer of superficial charm and charisma.

Jeff Skilling, formerly of Enron, is a prime example of someone like this. A self-declared admirer (and probable misreader) of Richard Dawkins’ The Selfish Gene and Herbert Spencer’s phrase ‘survival of the fittest’, Skilling remains notorious for having implemented a ‘Rank and Yank’ appraisal system involving the constant monitoring of employees and the sacking and public humiliation of up to one-fifth of those with the lowest production figures every year.

More examples are described here:

Brian Basham: Beware corporate psychopaths – they are still

Outlook Over the years I've met my fair share of monsters – rogue individuals, for the most part. But as regulation in the UK and the US has loosened its restraints, the monsters have proliferated.

www.independent.co.uk

Characters like this may also be over-represented in the world of politics. For example, in his acclaimed and persuasive study Disordered Minds: How Dangerous Personalities are Destroying Politics, Ian Hughes identifies three traits that commonly appear in the profiles of some of the more notorious characters from history (like Stalin and Mao, Hitler and Pol Pot), namely, psychopathy, narcissism and paranoia.

Hughes's description of the typical narcissist fits Trump to a tee, and in the light of recent events, Putin probably needs to be added to the list.

Once again, it is not all bad news, though. Professor Jim Collins at Stanford University has shown that businesses perform better when the bosses consistently exhibit the virtues of self-discipline, courage and personal humility.

A good example might be Julian Richer:

Julian Richer - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Nebuchadnezzar]

Interestingly, a study at the University of Surrey found that the personality traits of thirty-nine high-ranking managers matched, and even exceeded, the narcissistic, dictatorial and manipulative tendencies typically exhibited by psychiatric patients and psychopaths, all concealed behind a veneer of superficial charm and charisma.

Jeff Skilling, formerly of Enron, is a prime example of someone like this. A self-declared admirer (and probable misreader) of Richard Dawkins’ The Selfish Gene and Herbert Spencer’s phrase ‘survival of the fittest’, Skilling remains notorious for having implemented a ‘Rank and Yank’ appraisal system involving the constant monitoring of employees and the sacking and public humiliation of up to one-fifth of those with the lowest production figures every year.

More examples are described here:

Brian Basham: Beware corporate psychopaths – they are still

Outlook Over the years I've met my fair share of monsters – rogue individuals, for the most part. But as regulation in the UK and the US has loosened its restraints, the monsters have proliferated.

www.independent.co.uk

Characters like this may also be over-represented in the world of politics. For example, in his acclaimed and persuasive study Disordered Minds: How Dangerous Personalities are Destroying Politics, Ian Hughes identifies three traits that commonly appear in the profiles of some of the more notorious characters from history (like Stalin and Mao, Hitler and Pol Pot), namely, psychopathy, narcissism and paranoia.

Hughes's description of the typical narcissist fits Trump to a tee, and in the light of recent events, Putin probably needs to be added to the list.

Once again, it is not all bad news, though. Professor Jim Collins at Stanford University has shown that businesses perform better when the bosses consistently exhibit the virtues of self-discipline, courage and personal humility.

A good example might be Julian Richer:

Julian Richer - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Snakes in Suits - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

A bit American and saccharine in places, but this book argues that it is in some way required to have psychopathic tendencies to get all the way to the top. I actually read this whilst being really disillusioned with a workplace and was hoping to get some defence mechanisms, and was quite disappointed to find that there aren't really any if a menace of this type locks on to you.

 

[Kippaxpete]

Since we started working from home 2 years ago due to lockdown I have been in office about 6 times. We have had to fill out a motivational chart every single day since then. What we did yesterday, what we plan to do today. Do we need any help with work. Then mark motivation out of 5. I have put 1 every single day because at beginning of covid we made 100s redundant, had change of structure within our team and dept. My immediate line manager left so I put 1 as I didn't know if my job was secure, didn't know what future held for me, my team, our dept or even life in general. I have continued to put 1 every single day and no one has ever queried it. One guy puts 5 every single day and gets praised in his motivation. Someone asked why he puts 5 and he says I just make it up.

You can guarantee that the guy who scores five for motivation will already be earmarked for promotion regardless of his ability!

 

[Kippaxpete]

Interestingly, a study at the University of Surrey found that the personality traits of thirty-nine high-ranking managers matched, and even exceeded, the narcissistic, dictatorial and manipulative tendencies typically exhibited by psychiatric patients and psychopaths, all concealed behind a veneer of superficial charm and charisma.

Jeff Skilling, formerly of Enron, is a prime example of someone like this. A self-declared admirer (and probable misreader) of Richard Dawkins’ The Selfish Gene and Herbert Spencer’s phrase ‘survival of the fittest’, Skilling remains notorious for having implemented a ‘Rank and Yank’ appraisal system involving the constant monitoring of employees and the sacking and public humiliation of up to one-fifth of those with the lowest production figures every year.

More examples are described here:

Brian Basham: Beware corporate psychopaths – they are still

Outlook Over the years I've met my fair share of monsters – rogue individuals, for the most part. But as regulation in the UK and the US has loosened its restraints, the monsters have proliferated.

www.independent.co.uk

Characters like this may also be over-represented in the world of politics. For example, in his acclaimed and persuasive study Disordered Minds: How Dangerous Personalities are Destroying Politics, Ian Hughes identifies three traits that commonly appear in the profiles of some of the more notorious characters from history (like Stalin and Mao, Hitler and Pol Pot), namely, psychopathy, narcissism and paranoia.

Hughes's description of the typical narcissist fits Trump to a tee, and in the light of recent events, Putin probably needs to be added to the list.

Once again, it is not all bad news, though. Professor Jim Collins at Stanford University has shown that businesses perform better when the bosses consistently exhibit the virtues of self-discipline, courage and personal humility.

A good example might be Julian Richer:

Julian Richer - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Sadly, Julian Richer is one of the few exceptions that proves the rule. Another is John Timpson, owner of the high street shoe repair, key-cutting and dry-cleaning business. Here's an extract from a 2009 Guardian interview. Oh and he's a blue.
'Timpson, valued at £53m in the Sunday Times, has gained a reputation as a paternalistic employer. He runs a "Dream Come True" programme for staff, which has paid for eye operations and reunited families; he has holiday homes for workers, and the company, with links to 21 prisons, has recently set up a training school for young offenders in Liverpool. Staff get their birthdays off, bonuses for exceeding targets and he is determined to keep the final-salary pension scheme. It is, he says, "blindingly obvious" that if you treat people well, they will do a good job.'

 

[I'm With Stupid]

In our company, it's more the sort of bosses who don't even realise that they're doing it, rather than the outwardly unpleasant ones. Everyone has their own targets, which means that every now and again, you'll get something you have to do (some new process or something), and it's obvious that the only reason it's being done is because it will look good on someone's end-of-year deliverables. There never seems to be any consideration for how much extra work it will create for everyone else. I've started saying, whenever we get given this sort of bullshit extra work, "What do you want me to stop doing to create time for this?" And obviously they've never got an answer because they just come up with loads of bright ideas without considering what it will do to people's workloads.

 

[ob]

So guy finished yesterday as made redundant. He said to me in pub there will be more going. Announcement this morning another 2 got notice this morning and been made to sign gagging orders as part of redundancy package. There were part of a team of 8 who all had to reapply for their jobs knowing there would be 2 going. I got told by union there are a further 4 jobs at risk but that isn't public knowledge yet. Our dept as gone from over 60 pre covid to 25 once these last lot go. Every other single dept employing loads as I get list of new users to set up accounts for them to log in and I assign them licenses

 

[ZenHalfTimeCrock]

Sadly, Julian Richer is one of the few exceptions that proves the rule. Another is John Timpson, owner of the high street shoe repair, key-cutting and dry-cleaning business.

Chuck Feeney is another, quite remarkable example.

Exclusive: The Billionaire Who Wanted To Die Broke . . . Is Now Officially Broke

It took decades, but Chuck Feeney, the former billionaire cofounder of retail giant Duty Free Shoppers has finally given all his money away to charity. He has nothing left now—and he couldn’t be happier.

www.forbes.com

 

[Dirty Harry]

Interestingly, a study at the University of Surrey found that the personality traits of thirty-nine high-ranking managers matched, and even exceeded, the narcissistic, dictatorial and manipulative tendencies typically exhibited by psychiatric patients and psychopaths, all concealed behind a veneer of superficial charm and charisma.

Jeff Skilling, formerly of Enron, is a prime example of someone like this. A self-declared admirer (and probable misreader) of Richard Dawkins’ The Selfish Gene and Herbert Spencer’s phrase ‘survival of the fittest’, Skilling remains notorious for having implemented a ‘Rank and Yank’ appraisal system involving the constant monitoring of employees and the sacking and public humiliation of up to one-fifth of those with the lowest production figures every year.

More examples are described here:

Brian Basham: Beware corporate psychopaths – they are still

Outlook Over the years I've met my fair share of monsters – rogue individuals, for the most part. But as regulation in the UK and the US has loosened its restraints, the monsters have proliferated.

www.independent.co.uk

Characters like this may also be over-represented in the world of politics. For example, in his acclaimed and persuasive study Disordered Minds: How Dangerous Personalities are Destroying Politics, Ian Hughes identifies three traits that commonly appear in the profiles of some of the more notorious characters from history (like Stalin and Mao, Hitler and Pol Pot), namely, psychopathy, narcissism and paranoia.

Hughes's description of the typical narcissist fits Trump to a tee, and in the light of recent events, Putin probably needs to be added to the list.

Once again, it is not all bad news, though. Professor Jim Collins at Stanford University has shown that businesses perform better when the bosses consistently exhibit the virtues of self-discipline, courage and personal humility.

A good example might be Julian Richer:

Julian Richer - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

A few years ago, I was lead/encouraged to research personality disorders by a retired University Professor of Psychology who was a neighbour of mine, spent a good couple of years reading up on it, was lucky enough to even chat to a couple of the leading people in the field too, what’s funny, is that once you start to get a grasp of what’s what, you start to realise that certain people in your past, who initially you just thought were odd/arrogant/big headed/selfish etc , pricks or just plain wrong uns, fit very well into these personality disorders.

Of course, it needs a clinical diagnosis from a qualified professional, but sometimes, it just screams in your face.

 

[Dirty Harry]

Sadly, Julian Richer is one of the few exceptions that proves the rule. Another is John Timpson, owner of the high street shoe repair, key-cutting and dry-cleaning business. Here's an extract from a 2009 Guardian interview. Oh and he's a blue.
'Timpson, valued at £53m in the Sunday Times, has gained a reputation as a paternalistic employer. He runs a "Dream Come True" programme for staff, which has paid for eye operations and reunited families; he has holiday homes for workers, and the company, with links to 21 prisons, has recently set up a training school for young offenders in Liverpool. Staff get their birthdays off, bonuses for exceeding targets and he is determined to keep the final-salary pension scheme. It is, he says, "blindingly obvious" that if you treat people well, they will do a good job.'

Timpson’s have a fantastic reputation as employers, know of people who worked there for years and loved it.

Another I’d put forward is possibly ‘Warburton’s’, I only really say that knowing how they treated my girlfriend and her deceased husband who’d only worked for them a few months, whereas the insurance companies were trying every trick in the book to get out of paying, Warburtons ( who easily could have) we’re having none of it, honoured his contract in full and helped her with all the bereavement stuff.

Shit like that goes a long way with me, I only buy Warburtons bread etc now if they have what I’m looking for.

 

[roman totale]

with links to 21 prisons, has recently set up a training school for young offenders in Liverpool. '

Genius move. That’s a pipeline that will never run dry.

 

[BlueMoonday]

A lot of managers actually think they are great bosses. It is a weird delusional illness where they can't read the room of have any self awareness.

I remember when workload was ridiculous and my manager (at the time) put in a call with the whole team to tell them she and her fam are off to the European Championship semi finals (which was the following day). Who puts in a call just to mention that? Did it on another occasion when she got back from holiday to tell everybody how it was. (Like we gave a toss). Was a Brent move. Same person was a bully as well and passed on the blame to innocent employees.

Tragic how some people live their life through one-upmanship. Would rather live a happy and humble life than have people think I'm a wanker and hate me for an extra couple of £k in Salary.

Not all bosses are bad but there's some absolute tossers.

 

[GaudinoMotors]

A lot of managers actually think they are great bosses. It is a weird delusional illness where they can't read the room of have any self awareness.

I remember when workload was ridiculous and my manager (at the time) put in a call with the whole team to tell them she and her fam are off to the European Championship semi finals (which was the following day). Who puts in a call just to mention that? Did it on another occasion when she got back from holiday to tell everybody how it was. (Like we gave a toss). Was a Brent move. Same person was a bully as well and passed on the blame to innocent employees.

Tragic how some people live their life through one-upmanship. Would rather live a happy and humble life than have people think I'm a wanker and hate me for an extra couple of £k in Salary.

Not all bosses are bad but there's some absolute tossers.

To be fair, some workers also struggle with self-awareness.

 

[Mr Kobayashi]

A lot of managers actually think they are great bosses. It is a weird delusional illness where they can't read the room of have any self awareness.

I remember when workload was ridiculous and my manager (at the time) put in a call with the whole team to tell them she and her fam are off to the European Championship semi finals (which was the following day). Who puts in a call just to mention that? Did it on another occasion when she got back from holiday to tell everybody how it was. (Like we gave a toss). Was a Brent move. Same person was a bully as well and passed on the blame to innocent employees.

Tragic how some people live their life through one-upmanship. Would rather live a happy and humble life than have people think I'm a wanker and hate me for an extra couple of £k in Salary.

Not all bosses are bad but there's some absolute tossers.

I think it is just their ego taking over.

One of my bosses told us how he took the piss out of his brother at a restaurant by jokingly asking if he would be paying his share of the bill in instalments because he was doing the same thing with his debts because of troubled finances.

And then told us the dressing down about expecting better he got from his brother by text.

People have too much to drink and say silly things but once you are sober and in the office why would you repeat that to your team?

It just makes you seem like a dickhead.

He also gave a play by play about a livesex show of a performer sticking a dildo up her arse in Amsterdam (he had gone to as part a stag weekend) to a younger female report. And he was already on shaky ground because of his "banter.

The ironic thing is they get paid to maintain standards of behaviour in the group but get away with much worse because of their seniority.

 

[DrBlueBob]

Dunning Kruger

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunni...ect is,tendency to underestimate their skills.

 

[BlueMoonday]

To be fair, some workers also struggle with self-awareness.

Absolutely

 

[yozzerblue]

My Boss.
He drills asbestos over my head, when I ask him what he's doing, he says it's ok, it's not the blue stuff.
He asks the on site first aider not to record my accident in the accident book, in front of me.
He does not own an accident book.
He just gave us a small pay rise, while at he same time, reduced our travel expenses to nil.
I suffer from psoriasis, and when he got work in a bakery, he told me in front of everyone that I obviously couldn't be put on that job because they wouldn't want half my elbows in the breadmix.
I also have a bad tremor made worse by stress for which I am about to undergo deep brain surgery. He regularly asks me how I'm gonna manage to do this or that, while holding his hands aloft shouting shake it in lad. and this is not even scratching the surface. Problem is if I walk and claim against him he will get at my witnesses beforehand. 18 months to retirement thank fuck.

 

[halfmist]

My experience has been, from very early in my career is, if you can have a job where you don’t need a boss or can avoid having to boss someone, you don’t have to rely on anyone or anyone on you. The Buck stops with you

 

[halfmist]

Had 2 bosses who in staff meetings declared their admiration for A.Ferguson and what they learned by reading his autobiography ...

It must have been some sort of trap to see how you react under severe provocation.

 

[beast]

My Boss.
He drills asbestos over my head, when I ask him what he's doing, he says it's ok, it's not the blue stuff.
He asks the on site first aider not to record my accident in the accident book, in front of me.
He does not own an accident book.
He just gave us a small pay rise, while at he same time, reduced our travel expenses to nil.
I suffer from psoriasis, and when he got work in a bakery, he told me in front of everyone that I obviously couldn't be put on that job because they wouldn't want half my elbows in the breadmix.
I also have a bad tremor made worse by stress for which I am about to undergo deep brain surgery. He regularly asks me how I'm gonna manage to do this or that, while holding his hands aloft shouting shake it in lad. and this is not even scratching the surface. Problem is if I walk and claim against him he will get at my witnesses beforehand. 18 months to retirement thank fuck.

Sounds like an absolute shithouse, can have a career change for your last 18 months.

 

[threespires]

Too often the ability to get away with being a bad boss is baked into the system, especially in large corporates.

I used to freelance with a little niche of coming in to help out after large consultancies had sold a new Target Operating Model and then fucked off before it was properly implemented (or left only their, still massively expensive, graduates to try and get it to work).

There would often be reams and reams of stuff around management & governance, but when you did the exercise of striping it all back to a matrix of who had decision rights/authority and where the consequences of the decisions were felt, the two things often bore no resemblance to one other.

It's not rocket science, humans beings what we are, if you allow a system where power comes without aligned accountability don't be surprised when things go tits up. Over the years I came to the conclusion that some organisations messed this up through incompetence and others by design.