Here are examples of the worse kinds of boss behavior. Aspire to do the opposite, and you’ll be a great boss yourself some day.

Designing the ultimate bad boss from the most common offenders.

Sean Kernan•FollowJul 16, 2025Wed, July 16, 2025 at 2:28 PM UTC6 min read My dad was a military leader and passed along this old adage to me, “A soldier who doesn’t want to be a general isn’t a good soldier.”

It speaks to the necessity of goals and passion. In military circles, the saying carries a deeper meaning: you’ll rarely meet a general who hasn’t been in the trenches of combat (or something close to it). Nobody slides horizontally into a four-star position. All must prove themselves as junior officers. And every general/admiral has deep knowledge of their field.

The private sector is different.

AdvertisementAdvertisement AdvertisementAdvertisement For example, I managed a number of large vendors for my company. One Verizon rep couldn’t answer a single technical question I asked him. I started to question if he could spell Verizon if asked. He deferred on everything and was unapologetically ignorant on details.

I could tell his subordinates didn’t care for him during our meetings. They did a good job of hiding it but it was there.

It’s remarkable that you can end up working under someone who really doesn’t know what they are doing or, what you do at the technical level. There’s an old saying from the Peter Principle that, “People rise to their level of incompetence.”

And sometimes, they just mysteriously appear there with no relevant experience.

2. They micromanage the heck out of you

A micromanaging boss makes you feel unreliable and incompetent. They are usually stressed and trying to avoid any mistakes. But by following up over every minor detail, they demoralize the people under them. Micromanagers are proven to reduce morale and productivity over time. Worst of all, it leads to steeply increased turnover.

AdvertisementAdvertisement AdvertisementAdvertisement I had a boss who walked by my cubicle less than five minutes after sending me emails, “Hey get my email?”

He wanted to be on every single email I sent, all fifty of them each day. It felt like I had parents watching me. Every tiny task was followed up on, “Hey, did you get __ done?”

Yes. I got it done. Just as I always do.

The biggest problem with bad managers is that they fly under the radar. Most executives don’t even know they have a tyrant running amok, grinding their people into dust.

The surest sign of a good manager is that, under the guise of anonymity, his subordinates will still say good things about him.

3. They set impossible standards

It’s a darn shame. My friend was an incredible employee. He was the first in the office and the last to leave. He was as smart as anyone in the building and then some.

AdvertisementAdvertisement AdvertisementAdvertisement But his boss was a new, insecure, neurotic manager who set absolutely insane standards (he showed me the emails). For example, he filled out an immaculate 25-page report and got berated over a minor typo on page 19.

This report was an “above and beyond project”, not required. It wasn’t customer-facing. But it still justified a lecture on his attention-to-detail. Often, his goals were shifting and changing without him being told. And his manager was usually the first person to leave the building.

That report was his final straw. He’d been promoted in every job he’d ever had. Within four months of getting this new manager, he left for a new company where he was again promoted twice and is now a senior VP.

There’s a difference between bitter employees who get fired and quality workers who would have otherwise stayed if only they’d had better support. Bad managers are that difference.

4. They switch faces and crack whips

You are in the office and he is shouting at everyone, telling them to mush and hurry up. You don’t know if you are working or storming Normandy.

AdvertisementAdvertisement AdvertisementAdvertisement Suddenly, his manager walks in and he spins around and whips out caviar and wine, “Hello Mr. Davis! I am so happy to see you today! May I get you a drink?”

This manager often picks favorites too. He’ll take his favorite employee out to lunch and make cracking jokes with him while switching to a stone-faced killer when anyone else is around. These bosses know how to work the system, a bit too well. I dealt with one of these types of bosses and it was truly nauseating.

5. The narcissist

It’s a troubling and known fact that the odds of narcissism go up as someone rises through an organization. This trend is exacerbated by a social-media-fueled culture of self-indulgence.

This was mostly true in my experience. The most successful people in boardrooms had no shortage of confidence. They rarely conceded making a mistake and always found a way to spin it (often at someone else’s expense). They were pushy and self-serving. The very qualities that define a narcissist are often fruitful in a corporate environment. Unsurprisingly, a CEO has a 29% higher chance of being narcissistic.

A recap on the types of bad bosses to watch out for

40. They are incompetent at the actual jobs they are overseeing. They don’t understand what you do or the bigger picture.
41. They micromanage and infantilize you, even if you are great at your job.
42. They set impossible standards and move the goal post on you at any given moment.
43. They won’t treat people equally. Junior employees and subordinates will be given a heavy hand while they put on a twinkling sparkle face for the big boss.
44. They have an ego the size of the moon and do anything to further his own interests. Want to become a great boss? Be the opposite of those five things.

It’s as the saying goes, “Employees don’t quit their jobs, they quit their managers.”

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