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What Do You Do When Your Boss Is a Monster?
Here’s how you keep your terribly scary boss at bay.
Just when you thought it was safe to go back to your office — in walks YOUR BOSS! Some bosses are great, exhibiting consistent leadership and empowering employees to succeed. Others are like a Lovecraftian monstrosity, wreaking havoc and destroying productivity. Here’s how you survive the workplace when you report to a monster.
The Blob
In pop culture, the Blob is a gelatinous mass of intelligent goo that chases you until it smothers and consumes you. It’s everywhere and all you can do is attempt to run away from its ever-increasing reach.
In the workplace, the Blob is the boss who is insecure and doesn’t possess a solid vision. Therefore, they feel the need to micromanage everything, which inadvertently smothers employee creativity and output. You feel as if you can’t escape and are incapable of doing your job since the Blob is always lurking!
I’ve experienced different versions of the Blob during my career. One of the most frustrating was when I was tasked to head a new team pursuing a vertical outside of my company’s traditional wheelhouse. During this corporate realignment, I was asked to report to a recently hired VP who had no experience in our new vertical. She wasn’t…