Stop me if you’ve heard this one.
The worst manager treated everyone as replaceable.
The worst manager talked down to everyone.
The worst manager invalidated people when they would share their feelings.
The worst manager would either gaslight people or tell them to “deal with it” when they brought up challenges.
The worst manager would often say the wrong thing. The “wrong thing” is the kind of comment that makes people dust off their resume.
The worst manager thought everything was fine, and everyone was fine… because they didn’t realize that no one was comfortable talking to them.
The worst manager thought they were in the executive class when they were really a laborer, like those on their team. And so, the worst manager would prioritize the company profits before caring about people.
Don’t be the worst manager.
If you work for the worst manager, put THEM on the hook for all of THEIR bad decisions by documenting their bad advice in a kindly worded follow-up email, and then being maliciously compliant.
We shouldn’t tolerate the worst manager. There should be no safe place for them to be unkind, no lenience for their lack of empathy, no benefit of the doubt for the harshness of their words.
Beware the worst manager, and if you can, band together with your team to demand better.
