How to Survive a Bad Boss

Lam1969 writes "Computerworld has a three-page spread on how to deal with bad bosses. A common type is "the overgrown technologist who gets rewarded for brilliant technical work by being promoted to a position for which he's not qualified." Another type reported by a reader is the boss who's in over their head. The article says some bosses can be "fixed," but at other times it's better to hunker down or cover your ass so the bad boss can find other targets."

Re:Getting promoted to your incompetence level

[grub]

talks about workers getting promoted to their level of incompetence.

That's called The Peter Principle [google.ca]

not easy to avoid, not easy to appease

[yagu]

The problem with "bosses" is they come from the same base as everyone else. My experience has been and continues to be, for any discipline, less than 5% or so of players in that discipline truly know how and what they're doing.

That leaves the temperament and maturity of a "boss" as the essence with which you must deal. I had always been pretty lucky with managers and had good working relations with all but the last -- who turned out to be a little Nazi... He cared more about his image, and less about the work his team produced. He cultivated an "always busy" look for his group, but they produced far less with far less quality than other groups around us.

I constantly took him and the team to task for their hubris, and faux work facade, and became unpopular with Mr. Boss.

I rolled the dice at a bad time, it was at the same time IT decided to lay off 20% of the work force, and I had curried no favors to better my chances with this goonie. I don't know had I been a kiss-ass with him I would have fared better, but I was part of the 20% (after a illustrious 21 years with this company) let go.

Bottom line: in today's world, there isn't much you can do if you want to stand on priniciple -- unless you're lucky enough to have landed a great boss who knows what he or she is doing -- there aren't many of them. It's a shame and a crime when the truth, as stated in the article, is:

some bosses can be "fixed," but at other times it's better to hunker down or cover your ass so the bad boss can find other targets

It's probably one reason so many things are fucked today -- it's probably one of the reasons things like DRM even manages to get any traction -- it's probably why half the decisions being made are done so because of money under the table.

This is my story

[MikeDawg]

Here is my story: Ask Slashdot article [slashdot.org]

Re:I Am A Horrible Boss

[lgw]

Many companies have a "technical career track" for just this reason. I have the same paygrade as a senior manager, yet I'm an individual contributor. My career track potentially extends all the way to "Fellow", with the same pay grade as a senior VP. While it's unlikely I'll make it that far in my career, it's still far more likely than becoming an actual VP on a management track, so I can't complain.

If your technical skills are that good, find a company that knows what to do with them.

Re:Getting promoted to your incompetence level

[Gulthek]

That's an old one, and a pretty good book:

The Peter Principle is a theory originated by Dr. Laurence J. Peter. It states that successful members of a hierarchical organization are eventually promoted to their highest level of competence, after which further promotion raises them to a level at which they are not competent. The term is a pun on Sigmund Freud's theory of the pleasure principle.

The theory was set out in a humorous style in the book The Peter Principle, first published in 1969. Peter describes the theme of his book as hierarchiology. The central principle is stated in the book as follows:

        In a Hierarchy Every Employee Tends to Rise to His Level of Incompetence.

Although written in a lighthearted manner, the book contains many real-world examples and thought-provoking explanations of human behaviour. Similar observations on incompetence can be found in the Dilbert cartoon series (such as The Dilbert Principle). In 1981 Avalon Hill made a board game on the topic titled "The Peter Principle Game.

-- The Peter Principle [wikipedia.org]

Re:The answer is simple

[MrScience]

Interesting anecdote... but ulcers are not caused by stress. Two weeks of antibotics should set you right as rain, thanks to Dr. Marshal and Dr. Warren [bbc.co.uk].

When Australian researcher Barry Marshall, MBBS, first suggested in the early 1980s that stomach ulcers were caused by the bacteria Helicobacter pylori, he was nearly laughed off the stage at an international infectious disease conference. But 20 years later, H pylori is acknowledged as the chief cause of peptic ulcers, and antibiotics are their preferred treatment.
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/514219?src=hp3 0.lead [medscape.com]

To prove it, he downed a whole load of pylori, giving himself the mother of all ulcers. Now that's science (both in the mainstream refusal, and the evidence required to prove it).

Re:I Am A Horrible Boss

[Fortran IV]

It's like anything - learn it. Learn how to do it well. And stop complaining... It's the same with management, just do it. And do it well. If you're as bright as you claim, then you can be a great manager.

I'm sorry, but that's a load of bollocks.

Have you ever heard of "talent"? Some people are naturally good at some things and naturally bad at others. Different people have different talents.

If you are tone deaf, no amount of practice will ever make a worthwhile violinist out of you, because you simply can't hear when you hit an off note. And if you have the equivalent of tone deafness in your ability to judge and understand other people, no amount of Dale Carnegie and HR training will make a good manager out of you.

I know—I have a fair amount of "people-deafness" myself. The only people I can manage are the ones who don't really need a manager at all, because I simply can't "hear" the mistakes I make with the others.

Re:The answer is simple

[nathanh]

Quit. Seriously. The answer is to quit. A bad boss makes for a horrible working environment. Horrible working environments are detrimental to your health. Your working environment will affect your mental health and that's not somethin you can leave at the office when you go home at not. Your home and love life will suffer just as much as your health. Take it from me; I've been there.

Just last week I was diagnosed with two partially-healed ulcers.

Stress does not cause ulcers. That's one of those persistent medical myths. Ulcers are caused by gut bacteria [cdc.gov] and it's typically poor diet that causes them to flare.

Re:The answer is simple

[dbIII]

Just last week I was diagnosed with two partially-healed ulcers ... I now have the best job I've ever had. Yet I still have two ulcers

Now if someone were to find out that ulcers were not caused by stress but by bacteria and worked out how to fix them easily you'd think there would be a Nobel prize in it and it would get in all of the media (as it did). Stressful jobs are a pain - but you can't blame them for unrelated illness.