Don't Be A Bosshole

Daniel Pink recently offered up some readers' questions to author Bob Sutton. The author of Good Boss, Bad Boss: How to Be the Best...and Learn from the Worst discusses the qualities he sees in a good boss, and also coins what is now one of my favorite words in the leadership lexicon, "bosshole."

Bossholes seem to be people who've been poisoned by power. They've moved into a position with greater authority and seem to use that authority to boost their own ego, rather than to advance the firm or create a good environment for their employees. Or, they may be people who are in over their heads, and figure if they scream loudly enough, it'll cover up their incompetence. The end result is that they make life tough for those working for them, which truly destroys a creative working environment.

Sutton suggests ways in which pride and embarrassment can be used to tackle the problem of a bosshole. Pride can be used behind the scenes...letting the boss know you appreciate the things they do right can help them view the job more positively and perhaps focus on the good things they do, rather than feeling like they have to be a jerk to maintain control. Embarrassing the bosshole carries with it some risks; you can make them look bad in front of THEIR boss, but sometimes stuff rolls downhill, so the boss' failures may become your failures. Doing it privately may work better, but only if they're at least a tiny bit open to the possibility they might be wrong. Once, as I was making plans to leave a job, the bosshole I was working for said I should try to recruit one of my friends to take my place. I looked him in the eye and told him that if I wanted to keep people as my friends, the last thing I would do is suggest they work for him. He was shocked, and had nothing to say to that, but admitted to me a week later that was the first time anyone had said anything like that to him, and it got him to wonder what kind of environment he'd created. I don't know what finally happened there...once I was gone, I was so happy I never looked back.

One of the key points Sutton makes is about balance, something we've tried to emphasize in this blog over the past two years. An important aspect of this is that sometimes the balance between performance and people needs to shift one way or the other...just as we may give someone extra time off or offer some flexibility to them when they have an urgent need, so too will there be times we need to emphasize performance over people in the short term. Putting people's needs to the side temporarily needs to mean exactly that: temporarily. Frankly, if you've treated your Creatives well, they'll understand that and know that sometimes they're expected to take one for the team. Note that if you always focus on performance over people even when things are going well, your Creatives may not have the motivation to step up when you REALLY need them to. People aren't too worried about helping a bosshole out of a jam.

As you step into a leadership position (or even if you've been there for a while) it's a good idea to check yourself and see how you're dealing with your Creatives. Ask yourself if you'd like to be led the way you're leading others. Think about whether you'd want to work for you. Be honest with yourself; we often fall into doing what's easiest when faced with a new situation, but very often what's easiest isn't what's best.

Whatever you do, don't be a bosshole.