Is Your Future Boss Horrible? A 10 Point Reference Check

The film Horrible Bosses  opens on July 8th.  The basic plot, as I understand it, is that three guys who hate their bosses, played by  Jason Bateman, Charlie Day and Jason Sudeikis, conspire to murder them.  I don't recommend that way of dealing with a bosshole, and have been suggesting more constructive approaches (see this ABC interview).  As part of the film's release, I have been getting quite a few media calls about bosses. This reminded me of a checklist that I worked on with the folks at LinkedIn and Guy Kawasaki a few years back to help  assesses if a prospective boss is likely to be an asshole.   The list builds on the ideas in The No Asshole Rule and some ideas that appeared in Good Boss, Bad Boss.   

We developed ten "reference check"  questions that you can ask people who have worked with and for your prospective boss -- or perhaps had him or her as a client -- to help determine if you are at risk of going to work for an asshole.

Discovering the answers to these questions before you take a job can save you a lot of heartache. One of the key points in The No Asshole Rule is that one of the most effective ways to avoid being harmed by assholes -- and becoming one yourself -- is (to steal a phrase from Leonardo da Vinci) "to resist at the beginning," to avoid working for an asshole boss (or joining an asshole infested workplace) in the first place.  Here is our 10 point checklist:

1. Kisses-up and kicks-down: “How does the prospective boss respond to feedback from people higher in rank and lower in rank?” “Can you provide examples from experience?” One characteristic of certified assholes is that they tend to demean those who are less powerful while brown-nosing their superiors.

2. Can’t take it: “Does the prospective boss accept criticism or blame when the going gets tough?” Be wary of people who constantly dish out criticism but can’t take a healthy dose themselves.        

3. Short fuse: “In what situations have you seen the prospective boss lose his temper?” Sometimes anger is justified or even effective when used sparingly, but someone who “shoots-the-messenger” too often can breed a climate of fear in the workplace. Are co-workers scared of getting in an elevator with this person?  

4. Bad credit: “Which style best describes the prospective boss: gives out gratuitous credit, assigns credit where credit is due, or believes everyone should be their own champion?” This question opens the door to discuss whether or not someone tends to take a lot of credit while not recognizing the work of his or her team.

5. Canker sore: “What do past collaborators say about working with the prospective boss?” Assholes usually have a history of infecting teams with nasty and dysfunctional conflict. The world seems willing to tolerate talented assholes, but that doesn’t mean you have to.              

6. Flamer: What kind of email sender is the prospective boss? Most assholes cannot contain themselves when it comes to email: flaming people, carbon-copying the world, blind carbon copying to cover his own buttocks. Email etiquette is a window into one’s soul.

7. Downer: “What types of people find it difficult to work with the prospective boss? What type of people seem to work very well with the prospective boss?” Pay attention to responses that suggest “strong-willed” or “self-motivated” people tend to work best with the prospective boss because assholes tend to leave people around them feeling de-energized and deflated.

8. Card shark: “Does the prospective boss share information for everyone’s benefit?” A tendency to hold cards close to one’s chest—i.e., a reluctance to share information—is a sign that this person treats co-workers as competitors who must be defeated so he or she can get ahead.                    

9. Army of one: “Would people pick the prospective boss for their team?” Sometimes there is upside to having an asshole on your team, but that won’t matter if the coworkers refuse to work with that person. Use this question to help determine if the benefit of having the prospective boss on your team outweighs any asshole behaviors.

10. Open architecture: “How would the prospective boss respond if a copy of The No Asshole Rule appeared on her desk?” Be careful if the answer is, “Duck!”

Those are our 10 questions. I would love to hear other tips about what has helped you avoid taking a job with an asshole boss -- or warning signs that you wish you would have noticed before going to work for a demeaning creep.   

Comments

[anton]

"Sometimes there is upside to having an asshole on your team"

Whereas I agree with you, I feel it is not something that ought to be encouraged. Too many of them will pop up everywhere without trying, no need to help the process along.

[Lucas]

Yet more evidence that a successful boss and a good boss can be mutually exclusive: http://www.bnet.com/blog/drug-business/how-not-to-be-a-ceo-former-pfizer-chief-ousted-over-micro-management-and-copters/9270

[Jen]

Personally, I think finding a great boss is such a challenge because we all look at how to do this in the wrong way. Most people, including horrible bosses, are either unaware of - or choose to ignore - who they are, how they behave & the consequences of what they're doing. So you can ask questions about their management style, how well the share information, feedback, etc and you will be given answers that may or may not work for you. What will matter is that these answers will likely have nothing to do with reality since few people really are what they say they are. We can all hope (and pray!) that WYSIWYG with prospective employers but I think the reality falls very short for most of us - hence this blog, The No Asshole Rule and this popular movie.

How to solve this dilemma? Not sure but I think we should pay much closer attention to our most primitive reactions during an interview (that is as long as we are psychologically integrated enough to recognize them), which means responding to our flight or flight response, our anxiety response (and no I'm not talking about those butterflies in your stomach, which are likely a sign of performance anxiety). I think a lot of people could respond to their anxiety responses appropriately if they didn't always and absolutely allow their intellect or thoughts to control what they do so, for instance, you get a flight response in the interview but you ignore it because this company is a Fortune 500 company, and you start doubting yourself, you say that wasn't a flight response, just nerves. Then you get offered the job and wonder why you are working for an asshole . . . just my thoughts

[tim]

iF ITS A MALE BOSS the one sure fire sign of an asshole is the pinky ring. if he's got one it's a sign to bet the farm. female boss, just count the bling. if its excessive you can bet she's an asshole.

[John]

Here is a great one. Find out how any friends, realities or children of friends work for the company. I call them the "protected class". Employees who are incompetent but their bosses are blamed for failing to motivate them.

[Michael]

How about asking, "Would you mind if I speak to a few of the other people who report directly to you?"

[G.Whitfield]

This is a really good list. The trouble is finding someone to talk to who might have this information, but if you can it's great. I also agree with K.Sol; I have seen that too many times. Also bosses who try to seem too "cool" in the interview can be trouble.

[Janet]

@A. White, it's been suggested to me that you could ask, how does the team celebrate achievements?

[clk]

As k.sol rightfully said, the ability to really listen somehow dissipates when one moves up the hierarchy.

The other trait commonly seen is to "do as I say and not as I act" i.e. you're not entitled to be an asshole; I'm the only one here!

[A White]

That’s a good list, particularly when applying for a role within a current organisation, or in the rare occasions when applying to a new organisation and are able to ask questions of people who know the hiring boss.

But when you are at an interview for a role – what are one or two good questions to get to the heart of this? I’ve given up asking ‘what is your management style?’ because, as you point out elsewhere, few people have a good sense of what it is like to work for them. At a recent interview, I had some success with asking about the culture of the team, and the intangible qualities they were looking for, which yielding an interesting conversation.

Any thoughts or tips?

[k.sol]

I've found that when you go for a job interview, if the boss spends way more time talking than listening, it's not a good sign.