Tell your boss to get lost! Out of almost a thousand lectures that I have given, it goes without saying that I remember some of them better than others. I was speaking for a large Danish organization the other day. They had scheduled me to speak in between the appetizer and the main course. Wrong casting! I think they should have considered hiring a stripper to provide the entertainment instead. Anyway, it was a memorable and educational evening, and this blog post is based on that particular experience. It is a company that I know fairly well. They are doing OK, but they are not really all that sexy and appealing in terms of image. They have an OK image, but they have also invested in a lot of marketing to obtain that image. They are a wealthy company. For your information, this company employs almost as many managers as there are residents in a small town (just to put it into perspective). Well, they hired me to speak to them about their industry’s ability to attract and develop talents (which they really are very poor at doing). I told them how poorly a job their industry was doing. One of the managers came up to me afterward. His face was a bit reddish, and it was obvious that he had had a couple of drinks. He was quite angry with me, and he couldn’t accept that I didn’t think that their company was doing a fantastic job in the talent development area. I calmly explained to him that they weren’t very good at attracting talents and that they eventually would run out of steam because their departments are managed quite poorly (and here I know what I am talking about—insider knowledge). But he got really upset! There I was, standing as an outsider, telling them that their industry wasn’t very attractive to young people. While he was standing there, almost yelling, I was thinking about how nice it was that I could just go to my car and drive home. Think about the people who work for such an unpleasant person. I really felt like telling him to get lost! (Just say it out loud! TRY . . . Experts have discovered that it is healthy to swear because it takes off the pressure, relieves pain, and stimulates your creativity and tolerance. We actually swear a lot. In the United States, 72 percent of men and 58 percent of women swear in public—I don’t know the European statistics on swearing.) However, it was not my intention to write a blog about this particular manager—this blog is dedicated to all of you who live with a job that you don’t really like and work for an unpleasant manager. It is shocking what you will find out there of manipulative and narcissistic bastards who are pretending to be managers. Disturbing. Do you put up with them? Life is too short for bad managers, if you ask me! Three-fourths of all employees say that the most stressful part of their job is the boss. There is so much negativity in the air when you work for a bad manager, and there are really a lot of bad managers. I meet them every day. Untalented wannabes, who are only interested in unimportant stuff such as personal status, fancy watches, and being seen at the right lunch restaurants in the city.
It’s all very predictable and boring. I have experienced firsthand how a bad manager almost literally could give people a blow to their stomach, fatally sucking out all of their creativity. I have experienced managers who cause such a bad atmosphere in the office that the employees call in sick with bad nerves, anxiety, and stress. There are simply too many managers who have been but never should have been put in charge of other people. They are simply not good enough. Me included. I have NEVER said that I am a good manager. Honestly! There are so many people talking about their high “likability” and managerial abilities—ehhh, I don’t think so! They are not aware that everybody at the office is shaking their head and laughing behind their back. Shouldn’t we tell them what we really think? Today I was checking out of a hotel. While I was standing at the reception, I overheard a man talking on his mobile phone. He “smiled” strictly into the phone and spoke in a very sweet voice—I think he was talking to a customer or a manager who called to ask where he was. When he was finished with the conversation and hung up the phone, softly but clearly he said, “Stupid bastard.” I am just thinking, why doesn’t he just say it directly to the guy he was talking with on the phone! Why do we always act fake and pander to each other? Just say what you think. Tell your boss to get lost if he acts like an idiot. You always have a choice . . . and you should never compromise your dignity. I have tried standing there with zero income because I had said to a manager exactly what I thought—and I was kicked out of the company because I was being honest. I can look myself in the mirror every morning because the people whom I have an opinion about are aware of it. Who are you really acting for?