I Hate My Boss!: How to Survive and Get Ahead When Your Boss Is a Tyrant, Control Freak, or Just Plain Nuts!

by Bob Weinstein

Book Overview

Whether you work for a tyrant, a control freak, or a bona fide psychotic, this book gives you permission to hate your boss and still manage to be productive. Upbeat and offbeat, this cure for the common-dictator explains why we hate bosses, why the "perfect boss" is a pipe dream, how suffering under a bad boss can improve your work, why it's advantageous to be a smart follower, and how to get along--even emphatize--with even the most power-crazed...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0070691940
• ISBN13: 9780070691940
• Release Date: December 1997
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill
• Length: 192 Pages
• Weight: 0.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Great Advice, a Bit Over the Top

Most of us have had to deal with a troublesome boss at one point in our career. They scream and yell at us for no reason. They play political games, taking credit for our work. We feel as if every day is torture. Workers rarely have the luxury to just quit - there are bills to be paid! How do you deal with a boss who is sabotaging your career path? Bob Weinstein's book tackles the issue in two parts. First, he goes over the types of bosses that exist, helping to categorize each one. Second, he lays out the coping techniques and options. It is very informative for any employee to go through the first section - problem boss or not - and really think about some of the issues brought up. Bob includes a quiz or two to help you in your thinking. It's likely your boss was not trained well in HOW to be a boss - and had poor role models which they are now emulating. Bosses are not gods, they simply may not be well suited for this job. It is not necessarily that they are "evil" - it is more likely they are scared, paranoid about screwing up, getting yelled at by their superiors, not trained at all on how to delegate. And of course there are the more serious issues, like cocaine addictions, manic-depressive personalities, and crisis-mongers. There are no perfect bosses, anywhere. If your boss is human, they will have flaws. The key, as Bob explains, is to *upward-manage*. That is, manage your boss to achieve the job growth you want. While it's hard at first, you need to depersonalize what is going on. Your boss probably does not obsess about you and think up ways to torment you. Rather, you are someone the boss "trips over", in a way, while they are having a bad time and they lash out at you. Focus on this job being a stepping stone to your future career growth, it's a short term thing, and you are using this experience to build solid skills, to get your resume in order, to move on to what you really want. What are your solutions, then, during this time of testing? A key is to do SOMETHING. If you sit around complaining, goofing off, self-hating or wallowing in alcohol, you are only damaging your own reputation and future. You need to be proactive and carve out your own resume and future. So first, accept that your boss is human. They have flaws, they do have strengths. Keep a journal and record what is going on. This will be an incredibly valuable learning path for future jobs. What traits can you work with? If your boss loves details, can you write up quick daily reports to soothe them? What traits can you learn to avoid? If your boss is always cranky before 10am, can you organize your schedule to be out of the way? Modify your behavior to fit into their quirks. Again, this is upward-managing. Get the relationship to work more smoothly by working within their human frailties. It's your career you are carving, and your responsibility to watch out for you. Figure out THEIR goals and styles - and work in with them. The more you help them achieve thei