A Survival Guide for Working with Bad Bosses

by Gini Graham Scott

Being saddled with a terrible supervisor can turn even the best job into a nightmare. Unfortunately, not every boss is the great symbol of managerial perfection one would hope for. In fact, more people than not consider themselves stuck with a "bad boss." But short of remaining miserable or quitting a job, what can be done about it?

A Survival Guide for Working with Bad Bosses provides readers with savvy, practical advice for coping with managers and supervisors who are mean, incompetent, unethical, and worse. The book includes powerful strategies for not only working with -- but thriving under -- such bad boss types as:

* The Great Betrayers -- how to defend yourself against a corporate backstabber
* The Know-Nothing Bosses -- what to do when a boss is clueless
* The Bad Communicators -- how to respond when a boss is consistently unclear

Whether a boss is high-strung, incompetent, or a power-mad tyrant, this book has the solution.

About the Author: Gini Graham Scott, Ph. D. (Oakland, CA) is the founder and director of Changemakers and Creative Communications & Research. She is the author of 35 books, including A Survival Guide for Working with Humans. She wrote the "Work it Right!" column for the Oakland Tribune.

Genres: Management, Self Help, Psychology, Nonfiction

224 pages, Paperback

First published November 25, 2005

About the author

Gini has published over 50 books with major publishers, including books on work relationships, professional and personal development, creativity, law, criminal justice, popular culture, and social trends. She has published over 200 books through her company Changemakers Publishing, and has recently written a series of books on self-publishing.
She has been a guest on 100s of radio and TV talk shows including Oprah, Good Morning America, and CNN.

She helps clients write, publish, market, and promote any type of book through her company Changemakers Publishing and Writing at www.changemakerspublishingandwriting.com She also helps clients find publishers and agents.

In addition, she writes scripts and produces films through her company Changemakers Productions. She has written and produced 14 feature films, TV pilots, and documentaries, with 8 of them in distribution, the others in post production. Details are on her website for films at www.changemakersproductionsfilms.com. She helps clients turn their books into scripts and she reviews books for their film potential.

She also has written and produced over 60 short films. Examples are featured on her YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/changemakersprod.

She speaks and does workshops and seminars on the topics of her books and on self-publishing, writing and promoting books.

She has written over 200 songs featured at Changemakers Music (www.changemakersmusic.com). Her latest songs are on her Changemakers Music YouTube Channel.

She is a game designer who has published over two dozen games, featured at Changemakers Games (www.changemakersgames.com) .

Reviews

[Soelo · Rating 2 out of 5]

I liked the layout of the book, where each chapter is a category of bad boss, an example story, some options for dealing with boss and then discussion about each option. I did not like how most of solutions to the first section were variations on "If you can't beat them, join them!" or "Do your managers job yourself and you will be rewarded." Only in the more egregious situations (being insulted, harassed, hurt or threatened) was the employee encouraged to stand up for themselves. I was looking for more concrete tips on what to do when leadership is poor or uninformed and bad decisions are made. I don't want to continue to do work beyond my pay grade for years. Only one chapter talked about how to get promoted and that was essentially to ask your boss.

I see the author has also written a book for employers on how to deal with bad employees. I would be interested to see if the solutions are at all similar.

[Tami · Rating 4 out of 5]

“If you've ever had a job, you've likely come across a bad boss. Bad bosses come in all types from the no-boss and the party planner through the scatterboss and the promises, promises boss to the overloader and the control freak. A Survival Guide for Working with Bad Bosses describes mangers from hell complete with stories of real life versions of these monsters. Each section also includes a What Should the Employee Do section which outlines a number of possible solutions to the problem. A summary called Today's Take-Aways end each section.

A Survival Guide for Working with Bad Bosses is an excellent resource for employees stuck in a difficult situation. Not only does the book remind the reader that he or she is not the only one to have such circumstances but also gives them options which are often difficult to think of when stuck in the middle of a problem. Bosses may also want to read this book as often bad bosses don't even realize their problematic behaviour.

[Sadia Mansoor · Rating 3 out of 5]

The long known war between the bosses & the workers is not new for anyone. We all have been with some ridiculous bosses or as sweet as hell polite bosses as well. The war continues & often there's victory of only one person. It's always hard to bear a difficult situation, so here's the book which tells you how to tackle this problem.
This book deals with all kinds of bad bosses that you will ever face in your professional life, along with the solutions & tactics on how to handle them. At times, you have to show patience & continue with your job but at another, you strictly have to put your foot down & say "no" to any unreasonable demand made by your bad boss. Try to have a decent chat with him to work it out. If this doesn't work, you might have to look for better opportunities, rather than stressing over somebody who first has to sort out his personal problems, & then pinpoint others.

Here's the book >> http://www.sarahnamulondo.com/wp-cont...

[Tina Panik · Rating 3 out of 5]

The categories of bosses are incredibly helpful.

[Anjar Priandoyo · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think I realizes the book's key message: be positive on every situation. That's why it called self-help. But this one is good. So many example of bad bosses, from no-boss boss (ignorant doing nothing), micromanager, to dual boss. Very good one, its very short.

[Andrea · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some good ideas, some not great suggestions. Difficult to assess at times of the advice would be hypothetically good to follow! Also it seems like this book is a "read when you have a problem" rather than general advice for working with difficult people