Bad Boss Behaviors

"Black Boss: Nuances and Challenges"

By Kwame S. Salter

Bad Boss Behaviors

 An Excerpt

If you are still not convinced about the importance of Emotional Intelligence(EQ) and want to persist in becoming a bad boss, I have prepared a list of 7 bad boss behaviors that will guarantee you fail as an effective manager/leader. Consider the following to be the  Salter list of 7 Bad Boss Behaviors:

Never admit to being wrong: Always figure out a way to come out of a situation being right. As I once said to a boss of mine, “You’re not always right, but you’re never wrong.”

Stick with One Management Style: Be inflexible. Justify your inflexibility as your being ‘consistent’. Remember, always, that “to a hammer everything looks like a nail.”

Reward Butt Kissing: Encourage fawning and fatuous compliments. Listen only to those people who feed your ego. As Billy Crystal said during his SNL stint, “It is better to look good than to be good—and you look marvelous”

Throw ‘em under the Bus: When things go wrong, and they will, always have a scapegoat handy. Someone you will offer up to appease the ‘powers that be’ in the organization. “Feed the alligator in the hope it eats you last.”

Stick to your Guns: Ignore feedback and/or input. You should make every important decision for fear of having to share the credit. Establish, early on, with your staff that their role is to rubber stamp not review your decisions.Take pride in the fact that you made the decision, even if you make a bad decision, “You have the right to decide which mountaintop to die on.”

Make Snap or No decisions: Do not take time to understand the situation or the consequences of your decision. Show ‘em you are the keeper of all insights in the universe. Or, on the other hand, just let the situation fester and linger. Make no decision. This will surely frustrate, confuse and demoralize your staff—but, nonetheless, show you are in control. Expect that your staff might confide in others that, “S/he will not make a decision and will not let me make one either.”

Clone Yourself:  Build “high walls and a narrow gate” to keep out anyone who looks, acts, and—God forbid—thinks differently. Insist on looking for and hiring people like you—who share your world view, style and sensibilities. This way of hiring insures fewer hassles and debates—and, probably less creativity.

Hopefully, you realize I am not asking you to adopt these bad boss behaviors. This list of behaviors should be viewed as flashing yellow lights urging you to tap the brakes and do some serious reflection. And, if you are guilty of any or all of these behaviors just remember that many good bosses learned from bad bosses—what not to do.

Take Away: “No one is completely useless; they can always serve as a bad example.”

--Anon