Tag Archive: difficult bosses

The Cult Of The Working Dead (And How To Escape It)

It’s easily done. Start out in life so energetic and full of great ideas. Then find yourself in a career, a job, a way of life to which you’ve given over your ability to think. Hard to say how or when it happened. And if you look back it was probably not just one event…

How To Swing An Internal Job Move When Your Boss Really Wants You To Stay Put

Hats off to you. You’ve managed to hold on to your job through countless rounds of redundancies and reorganisations. And what you’re doing has become so much more mission critical to your boss as a result. But you’ve got other ideas. As relieved and flattered as you are, you just don’t want to keep doing…

How I Recovered From The Evil Grip Of A Vampire Boss

Maybe it’s because it’s spring and they can smell the sap rising. But after a dormant winter, news of a plague of vampire boss attacks has reached my real and virtual office again this week. How can you tell if your boss is a vampire? Well, if you’re constantly feeling exhausted, that nothing you do…

How Not To Give Feedback At Work: Part Two

Have you ever wondered about the source of poor management behaviour? I’ve always believed it comes from the top. The board or its equivalent. Set a bad example and you give your more junior people leaders licence to copy you. On the weekend, I witnessed a sad but true endorsing example. You may recall that…

How Not To Give Feedback At Work

An embarrassing thing happened to me the other day that I want to share and get your perspective on. I’m in a coffee shop with my other half for breakfast. I order him a bacon butty. The barista, a fairly new guy, doing his best at smiley customer service, puts two sachets of ketchup on…

How Bosses Gamble With Your Loyalty: 5 Ways To Protect Yourself

Companies often take their best, most dedicated people for granted. When bosses are awash with all kind of short- and long-term problems, loyal old, hardworking you are the last thing that gets on their agenda as needing time, attention and consideration. Which can leave you feeling more than a tad resentful. Not good when you’re…

A Comprehensive Guide To Slaying Your Vampire Boss

Your first meeting with her was inspirational. “Hurrah for charisma,” you thought. At the time, something lurched in your solar plexus; something you couldn’t name. But you told yourself not to be silly; you were just imagining things. But weeks after you start working for her, things are not right. You’ve got all the signs…

Is Your Boss A Closet Vampire? Check These Tell-Tale Signs

Ever have that feeling of being perpetually drained of energy? You know, that wrung-out, zombie state that never seems to leave you? You want to shake yourself free of it, but can’t quite find the enthusiasm. Meantime, there’s work to do, targets to meet, actions to deliver. So you just go along with it all,…

7 Warning Signs That It’s Time To Quit Your Job

photo credit: DaveBleasdale According to a recent survey, 40% of professionals are considering going in search of a new job when they get back from their summer vacation. They’re battle weary after months of slogging it out in positions where their promotion prospects are disappearing, their bosses aren’t living espoused company values, and their bonuses…

Don’t Change Your Job – Change Your Mind

My friend – let’s call him Frank – was looking pretty despondent when I met him for coffee late last week. Slouched in his chair and completely absorbed by his BlackBerry, he was a shadow of the shit hot Business Consultant I knew him to be. He’d told me that he didn’t have long, so…