Two Months Reflecting on Bad Bosses

We're only two months into the new year, and I've already spent 20 nights in hotels and traveled to many cities all over North America. Tonight, I'm in Boca Raton, FL, and this month I still have presentations in Seattle, WA; Myrtle Beach, SC; Athens, Greece; Boston, MA, Sarasota, FL, and Salt Lake City, UT -- then, I'll start thinking about April. Why do I write about my travel schedule? Because I meet a lot of people all over the country that resonate with the message that we share about the way employees need to be treated (and appreciated) at work.

Despite my best efforts however, I find that some people hang on to the "good ole days" when we didn't need to praise a person for working. I also find that the people that are typically most defensive during a presentation are the people that everyone else hopes is listening (aka the person who needs the message the most). During breaks or after a presentation, I often get people that come up to tell me their stories -- stories that often include horror stories about their bosses.

The other day someone came up and simply said the letters "R-H-I-P" and I clearly didn't understand what he was saying. He then told me that those 4 letters are regularly used by his boss to remind him of his position at work. Still sensing my confusion, he finally told me what it stood for: "Rank Has It's Privileges." "Everyday," he continued, "my boss comes into my cubicle and says those 4 letters R-H-I-P, and I just bite my lip and put up with it."

What kind of boss do you work for? Have you ever had a similar experience? Does it make you feel like doing your best? What if your boss works hard to take credit for everything (unless it is bad)? Do you have a boss that is insecure?

Typcially, I find that angry managers really have bad self-esteem and they constantly need to cut others down in order to build themselves up. David Maister, a management consultant, recently stated the simple truth that "good managers help others to succeed and that they don't need to score all of the goals on their own." Good managers know how to celebrate when their employees succeed -- in fact, they coach their employees towards that success -- even when someone else scores the goal!

Let's face it, we all have insecurities and self-doubts that come out in different ways, and even our bosses will suffer. The question is: What are the business results when they simply work on tearing people down to bring themselves up?