Some bosses are not just tough, but somewhat horrible. But as a personal assistant told us, it was worth it as they learnt a lot. How do you work for a man who is mean, unable to do anything by himself and treats you like garbage? Obviously, you need the job and you realise that this horrible boss ensures making every boss thereafter, seem like an angel. This is really true, so what do you you learn from a really tough boss?
Never talk back
Talking back is very unprofessional besides lands you in more trouble than if you said nothing. There are times when the boss makes you red-hot with anger, but look him right in the eye and nod. Keeping in check teaches you to handle yourself no matter how you feel, something vital in the business world.
Organization is better than cleanliness, and only next to godliness
A personal assistant would essentially do everything for their boss from dry cleaning delivery to lunch grabbing, email writing and appointment scheduling. To ensure everything got done in time, they had to be more organized than they normally would be to ensure the job was done well and ahead of time.
Lead with heart and humanity
The best lesson learnt from the worst corporate leader ever, is to face work and life challenges with heart and humanity, even if there is no love and warmth there. Only business and a corporate culture lacking emotional texture, makes the team miserable and they mocked the boss. No job is more important than your well-being. If not treated with respect, or you dread going to work daily, look for another job.
Handling work stress
Working for a man or woman who wants work done instantly even though it was asked now, is difficult. The stress levels are enormous but handle it by pretending it isn’t there, and by freaking out internally. By the day-end, if it can be done, you will.
Learn the power of managing as micromanaging kills creativity and morale
A hypercritical supervisor is very difficult to work with and if the manager puts much pressure, it results in toxic workplace culture. But over time, you learn to ‘manage up,’ which helps establish trust with the supervisor and better navigate the challenges being encountered. Micromanagers kill creativity! Challenging bosses who are controlling and involved, in every step, are not rare. If inexperienced, some oversight is welcome, but some more experienced staff never appreciated the constant meddling in a tense environment, and morale dipped. Talented team members felt less motivated, with work productivity and creativity suffering due to lack of autonomy over decisions. The value of putting the right people in the right roles and letting them show results as people own their decisions with pride and accomplishment and we need to get out of the way. It’s better to listen to your gut-feeling, without any assumptions about a person’s role or title. Nothing made any sense, and lack of enough experience was rubbed in for failure in understanding his techniques. Dropping the insecurity and instant deference related to titles, due to these twisted lessons, you can sit in a room with people at all levels and see how to hold values and possess power, regardless of assigned roles.