There is a leadership style that I’ve never dipped my toes into trying… but if you’re reading this, then you’ve probably experienced the Asshole Leader (AL so I can stop typing Asshole over and over again).
What is an AL? You already know. You’ve got a name in your head already. But lets talk about it just a dab anyway. So, here’s some traits you might recognize
- Never wrong and when they are wrong they won’t admit it and when they do “admit it” they don’t apologize for it and when they do apologize for it they don’t mean it
- Doesn’t listen when you come to them for help
- Makes wild generalized statements
- Keeps the team mad and sad (though their goal is more mad than said, more in a moment)
- Fill in the blanks here in the comments
Times spent working for these kinds of “leaders” can be stressful and detrimental to your health (physically, emotionally, and mentally). The end of a project can look like a brilliant light at the end of a long, dark, dingy, smelly tunnel.
In the five stages of development, the team likely never feels like it gets out of the storming phase. This is partly by design. A team that has normalized and leveled out might form bonds in such a way that they “overthrow” their “leader”. But often times, its shared suffering and teams can come together closely. But for all the wrong reasons.
Instead of a team that is gathered together to do the best work they could do for the project, they are now gathered together to do the best they can to survive the day against the AL. Bye bye long term vision, hello tunnel.
Do all AL know they are an AL? I’d wager not many do. But I’m a programmer not a psychologist. I have experienced at least one AL that claimed it was on purpose. As they said: “you guys sure worked a lot harder when you were pissed off at me”. And he was right. Just maybe not for the reasons he thought.
So how about you? What’s your AL story? How’d you cope? Recommendations for others? Drop a line in the comments!
Jeff of All Trades 