An Open Letter to All the Bad Bosses I Have Ever Had
Dear Bad Bosses,
You probably think I am going to use this letter as a forum to criticize you and to bash you. And that may end up happening as I continue writing this, but understand that is not my intention. In fact, had I written this letter in my younger years, it probably would have been a lot shorter and consisted not of words, but of an image. And it probably would have looked something like this:
However, as I have grown and matured, I have come to see you in a different light. Instead of seeing you as an incompetent and evil person who signed my paycheck, and sometimes put me through hell – I now see you as a teacher. Before you spit out your water, please hear me out. I realize that as I have grown older that we don’t only learn from good bosses, but we can learn as much or more from bad bosses too…
…Aka You!
Not all of you are bad people necessarily, some of you are, but most of you aren’t. You just aren’t good at managing or leading. So, instead of writing to you as a jaded ex-employee, I am going to write this letter in a more positive light in the form of lessons that I learned from the mistakes you made. Of course, I have had many bosses, so not all these lessons will come from you specifically. In fact, some of these aren’t even from bad bosses I had myself, but bad bosses I have observed.
My hope is that all bad bosses will be able to read this and internalize the lessons learned to see if they apply to them and if they do perhaps they may consider changing their approach in some areas.
Before I go any further, I won’t name names – that would be wrong and unfair on many levels. But, after reading this you will probably know who you are.
Actually – scratch that – some of you may know who you are, but some of you may NOT know who you are because you are an egomaniac. You are so self-absorbed, and have such an ego, that you shoot down people’s ideas before you even think them through – which brings me to…
The 1st Lesson Learned from Bad Bosses:
Don’t let your ego get in the way of doing the right thing. Who cares whose idea it is? Hopefully, you have hired good people, now step aside and let them contribute!
The operative word in the previous sentence is ‘hopefully’ because some of you have been horrible at hiring good talent which has had a plethora of horrible ramifications that I will not get into here, which brings us to…
The 2nd Lesson Learned from Bad Bosses:
You cannot do everything yourself, so it is imperative that you hire good people and people who are good at the things you are not.
As I said earlier, not every one of you has made every mistake that has appeared on this list. In fact, some of you have hired some truly amazing talent! However, instead of providing guidance and helping them do their jobs, you managed them too much or not enough, which leads us to…
The 3rd Lesson Learned from Bad Bosses:
Don’t be a micromanager but don’t be a totally hands-off, absent manager either. There is a delicate balance to be a good manager – on one hand, some bad bosses are on top of you every minute that you don’t have time to breathe, while on the other hand, some bad bosses are M.I.A. when you need them most!
Another mistake I have seen some of you bad bosses make is not getting rid of people soon enough. We have all made bad hires, and no matter how much you try to help someone improve, there are times where it just doesn’t happen. I have seen many of you keep someone on the team just to save face so you wouldn’t have to admit that you made a bad hire, which leads to the next point I will which is…
The 4th Lesson Learned from Bad Bosses:
Sometimes you need to admit you have made a mistake and cut your losses and let someone go. You are doing yourself a favor, the company a favor and the person a favor.
Then there are those of you who are so insecure and so worried about climbing the corporate ladder yourself that you take credit for everything we do! Do you realize how de-motivating that is? So…
The 5th Lesson Learned from Bad Bosses:
Is don’t take credit for other people’s work! It just makes you look insecure and eliminates any intrinsic motivation your employees had. If you are good, people will know it and they will think more highly of you and see you as more of a leader if you give praise and credit to those who deserve it.
There was one of you who every time I would meet with you, you would turn around in the middle of our conversation and start sending emails. It was unreal that you had such a lack of presence and self-awareness which brings us to…
The 6th Lesson Learned from Bad Bosses:
Be present when with your employees, listen hard to what they are saying, and show an interest in them both personally and professionally.
I have also had some of you bad bosses that have been more concerned with how many hours I work than my actual productivity which brings us to…
The 7th Lesson Learned from Bad Bosses:
Be more concerned with the productivity and focus of your employees during the hours they work rather than the number of hours they work. In fact, research out of Stanford shows that productivity tails off sharply after 50 hours worked and to almost nothing after 55 hours that there is no point anyway. Plus, as my co-blogger Howie will tell you, uncompensated overtime is one of the biggest killers of intrinsic motivation that there is!
While those are the main lessons I have learned from you bad bosses…
There are a bunch more that I would like to mention briefly:
Which are:
Keep calm – as losing your cool will make you seem out of control.
Let people take their vacation – when they want to take it, they have earned it!
Admit when you are wrong – people will really respect you for it.
Treat people like actual human beings – show that you are grateful and appreciative of their efforts.
Be secure with yourself – don’t be threatened by the ambition and intelligence of your employees. Would you rather have stupid people who are lazy?
Let people make mistakes so they can grow – just make sure they learn from them.
Never let your employees get stuck and spin their wheels – struggling to learn is ok and is a part of learning, but spinning your wheels is not.
Don’t be moody! – Try to be the same person every day. The last thing you want is for your employees to be unsure of how you will act or treat them.
Don’t make outrageous demands – It’s good to challenge people a bit but make your objectives for them reasonable and achievable.
Encourage personal development – by giving people time to learn and sharpen their saw during work hours, it will only make them and the team that much better.
Encourage camaraderie and friendship amongst people on your team – they will work better together and be happier.
Wow! Am I ever glad I got that off my chest!
As I said earlier, in my younger more immature years, I probably would have flipped all you bad bosses off, but now I want to say…THANK YOU!
Thank you for teaching me things that I would never have learned from a good boss.
So, instead of flipping you the bird, I would like to propose a toast…
To all of the bad bosses I have ever had, thanks for teaching me how to be a better manager and leader…
Cheers!!!
–Rick
Use It or Lose It:
Some things I have learned from bad bosses I have had are:
Don’t let your ego get in the way of doing the right thing.
You cannot do everything yourself; hire good people.
Don’t be a micromanager, but don’t be totally hands off either.
If you have to let someone go, let them go.
Don’t take credit for other people’s work.
Be present and listen hard to your employees.
Be more concerned with productivity than hours worked.
When to Use It:
If you are a manager now or if you become a manager one day.
What Do You Think?
What are some lessons you have learned from bad bosses you have had? Please share in the comments below!
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Bad bosses really are not evil, they just do not understand or realize that their actions are unproductive and demeaning. And based on experience, a bad boss will not change nor alter his behavior. You just have to live with it, or move on to another job. The only other way out is if his/her boss figures out that this guy/gal sucks rocks.