Fortune's Stanley Bing shares his take on the five types of crazy bosses, and some strategies for dealing with one, from "Crazy Bosses" (Harper Collins).
By Stanley Bing
1 of 25
Joseph Stalin, Russian dictator. Sent people to gulag, killed millions
The bully
Symptoms
Default emotion: rage.
Extremely inconsistent, vast emotional swings depending on mood, often seemingly unrelated to external circumstances.
Capable of great affection and loyalty, which may be withdrawn at any time.
Manipulative and self- pitying, highly aggressive personality that has no problem asserting its priorities over those of others.
Extremely insensitive about feelings of others while at the same time extremely solicitous of his or her own.
Requires enemies in order to function properly; if none are handy is not averse to creating them.
Contagion factor: 96.
Level of difficulty: 100. Bully management is perhaps the most difficult of all tasks for those who wish to survive in a world filled with the impressive variety of sick senior officers.
The central question of every hardworking person's career is how to work less hard while still being able to buy an expensive bottle of wine without trembling. The answer is simple: Retire while still working! (more)
