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Stanley Bing

How to deal with your crazy boss

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).

The bully
Stay out of striking distance.
Rationale: Not being around is a terrific way to avoid being killed by flying shrapnel when he goes off, as he inevitably will. Those who aren't killed immediately will often be hauled off to prison for torture and, sometimes, execution. Have you got a field operation out in the boonies somewhere? Another office across town where people are into production, instead of planning? Go there periodically. Establish the fact that you are at times out of the office on real business. Then get lost when you see he's in the killing vein. If you must remain in physical proximity to the bad dude (like in a grumpy budget session), establish psychological and emotional distance immediately upon noticing the darkness is upon him. In other words, shut up and speak when you're spoken to, softly. This is not the time for honesty or self justification. Survival is the name of this game.

Effectiveness: Just common sense, but effective.


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Most stock quote data provided by BATS. Market indices are shown in real time, except for the DJIA, which is delayed by two minutes. All times are ET. Disclaimer. Morningstar: © 2018 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Factset: FactSet Research Systems Inc. 2018. All rights reserved. Chicago Mercantile Association: Certain market data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. Dow Jones: The Dow Jones branded indices are proprietary to and are calculated, distributed and marketed by DJI Opco, a subsidiary of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and have been licensed for use to S&P Opco, LLC and CNN. Standard & Poor's and S&P are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC and Dow Jones is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC. All content of the Dow Jones branded indices © S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC 2018 and/or its affiliates.