Bad boss getting you down?

The surprising advice that really works...

Welcome back to Lead with Intention! [Insert something pithy about how time is flying because we’re already mid Feb, but then realise that the world IS actually turning at a terrifying rate and all in the baaad ways… But hey! We can go back to plastic straws now, so that’s something right? Right???]

Exhale. Sorry, needed to get that off my chest! Maybe you did too? It’s a time to be alive.

BUT - we are here to build something better as leaders of the future (and of the now.)

Our job is often made even harder of course by living in the “era of mistrust”.

And by bad bosses. Who have so much influence over the happiness and productivity of our working lives and careers. But whom we rarely think we can do much about.

And whilst it’s true that we cannot control or change other people, (I use this classic coaching model a lot with my clients), there is a lot we CAN DO to navigate this situation and make some progress towards a better outcome for ourselves.

So in today’s newsletter (paid, because I value my coaching advice and we should all value ourselves professionally), I want to give you some advice that may feel counterintuitive if you’re struggling with a shitty boss at the moment in your career.

And guys, I’ve had some doozies… (I’ve also BEEN a bad boss much earlier in my own corporate career - go back in the archives, I’ve written about this a lot).

There was the one who wouldn’t let me speak in meetings.

The one who used to email me with subject lines IN ALL CAPS SO THEY WERE CONSTANTLY SHOUTING AT ME.

The one who stood over my shoulder in an open plan office whilst I emailed a client, because I “couldn’t be trusted” not to put a typo in it.

And the one who caused me years-long workplace trauma due to the way they constantly belittled me, threw me under the bus and set 8:00am “meetings” (with no subject line, because of course, why would you let someone know what the meeting was about…) at 6:30pm after I’d left the office for the day or the week. Dooming me to a night or even a weekend of trying to guess what I’d done wrong this time.

So I know of what I speak. And as a coach for leaders these days, it’s a topic that often comes up in my sessions.

So, here’s my advice if you’re struggling with a bad boss. This advice may well surprise you, but sit with it and you may surprise yourself at how well it works…