Guy Kawasaki and I put out some tools last year to help people figure-out of they are certified assholes or are considering going to work for one. The ARSE, or Asshole Rating Self-Exam, has been completed by over 130,000 people. We also developed the Asshole Boss Detection System with folks from Linked-in, a set of questions you can ask about your future boss behind his or back (just as they checking your references) to find out if, in fact, the person you are considering working for is a certified asshole.
In this spirit, there have been a number of articles recently about how to tell if you work for a bad boss. On January 8th, The New York Times ran article called "Good Boss, Bad Boss, Which Are You."
Here is an excerpt:
To find out how good — or bad — a boss you are, the National
Federation of Independent Business, a small business advocacy group,
suggests asking yourself these questions:
1. Have you ever publicly criticized an employee?
2. Do you take credit for your employees’ work?
3. Do your employees fear you?
4. Do you expect employees to do what you tell them without question?
5. Do you believe employees should know what to do without you telling them or providing guidelines?
6. Are you a yeller?
7. Do you demean employees as a form of punishment?
8. Do you play favorites?
9. Do you hate delegating?
10. Do you check everyone’s work?
According to the answer key, the more “yes” answers, the greater the likelihood you are a bad boss.
In addition, the article refers to a recent story by INC’s Leigh Buchanan (who also wrote about The No Asshole Rule in a funny article called "The Bully Rulebook.") Here is one sign of bad boss, according to Leigh: “You never see people walk by. Employees would rather circumnavigate
the entire office to get to the coffee machine or bathroom than take
the shortcut past your door and risk being invited in.”
These surveys aren’t just fun. To me, the fact that people are writing about them is a good sign because it just might help drive incompetent and nasty bosses out of the workplace — in part, by helping bad bosses realize what they are doing wrong so they can change their ways.
P.S. The first graphic is an eraser that my publisher used to promote The No Asshole Rule. The second graphic is from the INC story.
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