Quotes from Robert I. Sutton

las personas no se marchan de las organizaciones, sino que huyen de los malos jefes».

But an occasional strategic outburst seems to be effective because "targets" construe their temporary tormentor as trying to motivate them to try harder and to be smarter—they don't dismiss it as just the usual ranting from a certified asshole who berates them constantly

Unfortunately, Captain Graf created fear and mistrust in her followers, rather than stoking the courage, skill, and confidence she intended.

Be warned, however, that when groups work mostly through e-mail or conference calls (rather than face-to-face), they tend to fight more and trust each other less.

Another misguided trick bosses use to demonstrate their brilliance – at least to themselves – is to develop incomprehensible strategies. Unfortunately, if your people can't understand your strategy, they can't figure out what to do. And, even if they can comprehend the twists and turns, the complexity can scatter their attention in so many directions that they won't do any single thing well.

As this sales representative discovered, when individuals dress up as organizations, sometimes they twist, exaggerate, or even defy the letter or spirit of the real rules, and will try to belittle, dismiss, frustrate, or ignore you, because they are insecure, lazy, on a power trip, or plagued by other personal quirks. But once you out them, their house of cards just might collapse.

Every boss can't have deep knowledge of every follower's expertise. When that happens, a boss's job is to ask good questions, listen, defer to those with greater expertise, and, above all, to accept his or her own ignorance. Those who fail to do so risk making bad decisions and ruining their reputations.

Then there are people with modest but real power—and who take sick satisfaction from frustrating and pushing others around.

Michael told me that he designs the "how" part of his actions "with the other person's point of view in mind." Even when breaking off with an asshole, he works to "convey the truth in respectful and empathetic ways.

In Katy's language, this chapter is about—when you can't or won't avert engaging with crazy completely—how to limit the frequency, duration, and intensity of the abuse you face and feel.

Two-faced grinfuckers have certain signature moves. They pretend to enthusiastically agree with every decision you make or idea that you have, but rather than telling you when they disagree, they never actually implement the ideas, or do the exact opposite, or intentionally implement the decisions or ideas so badly that failure is inevitable. Then they bad-mouth you and other colleagues behind your backs for your terrible ideas and judgment.

Discuta como si tuviera razón, escuche como si estuviese equivocado».

fear of taking responsibility, especially the sense that it is safer to do nothing, or something bad, than the right thing.

Creativity is a consequence of sheer productivity. If a creator wants to increase the production of hits, he or she must do it by risking a parallel increase in the production of misses. . . . The most successful creators tend to be those with the most failures!3 —Dean Keith Simonton, researcher, summarizing academic studies on individual creativity

Here's what I think we face. 2. Here's what I think we should do. 3. Here's why. 4. Here's what I think we should keep an eye on. 5. Now talk to me (i.e., tell me if you [a] don't understand, [b] cannot do it, [c] see

La indecisión es una particularidad de los malos jefes.

And a 2015 study by Trevor Foulk and his colleagues from the University of Florida shows that even a single exposure to a rude person (e.g., a mildly insulting email from a customer) can turn a person into a "carrier," who in turn infects others with the negative behavior—so it spreads much "like the common cold.

they offered him a new suite of offices several miles away from the main campus. The pompous professor took the bait. He was delighted to have so much space; his colleagues were even more pleased because they now rarely saw or heard from him after he moved to his new digs.

it's sometimes wise to add rather than remove communication barriers—and physical distance is one of the most protective barriers.

In the 1970s, MIT professor Tom Allen showed that the closer people sat to one another, the more frequently they communicated—not just face-to-face communication, but via all media including telephone calls.

He sought out and surrounded himself with people that he trusted to tell him the truth (rather than what he hoped to hear) about the severity and nuances of challenges that he and the company faced—and when he was screwing up.

Some assholes take a similar kind of pleasure in your pain. When they do something that generates a strong reaction from you—be it obsequious ass-kissing, effusive apologizing, trembling with fear, giving in to tears or anger, or sending that long and carefully worded email you spent an hour crafting in response to their imaginary emergency—the pleasure centers in their twisted minds light up.

Trust yourself and speak out what you believe. If what you believe is different, dare to be different. Dare to be in a hurry to change things for the better.2 —Geoffrey

This "rhythm method" can help anyone besieged by such micromanaging pleasure seekers: try to slow things down, make THEM squirm and suffer as much as you can, and train them to back off and wait. They might just stop badgering you—and turn their attention to more responsive and thus more satisfying targets instead.