10 Signs You Have a Bad Boss

Everyone likes to complain about their boss now and then, but here are 10 signs that you have a truly bad boss, the kind worth getting away from. And if you’re a manager and recognize yourself in any of the below, it’s time to immediately send yourself to manager rehab!

1. Yelling. Managers who yell actually diminish their own authority because they look out of control. After all, a manager confident in her own authority doesn’t need to yell because she has far more effective tools available to her. Don’t yell, and don’t work for yellers.

2. Fuzzy expectations. If your manager doesn’t communicate clear, concrete goals for your work, and convey to you what success in your position would look like, she’s falling down on one of her most important jobs. A good test: If you and your manager were both asked what’s most important for you to achieve this year, would your answers match?

3. Unreliability. She says she’ll review your report by Tuesday, but it doesn’t happen. She promises to join you for your important meeting but doesn’t make it. She says she’ll forward you a client’s contact info, but it never arrives. You need to be able to rely on your manager to do what she says she’s going to do, just as she needs to rely on you for the same.

4. Unwillingness to make decisions. This often takes the form of managers neglecting to address performance problems or not firing low performers. But it surfaces in other ways too, like not taking responsibility for moving work forward or punting in favor of trying to reach consensus.

5. Unreasonable demands. Holding staffers to a high standard is a good thing. But insisting that people work over the weekend to complete a project that isn’t time-sensitive, or demanding that an employee do the truly impossible, is the mark of a tyrant.

6. Indirectness. When a manager sugarcoats to the point that her message is missed, or presents requirements as mere suggestions, staffers end up confused about expectations, and the manager ends up frustrated that her “suggestions” weren’t acted upon.

7. Ruling by fear. Managers who rule through rigid control, negativity, and a climate of anxiety and fear don’t trust that they can get things done any other way. Of course, it backfires in the end because fearful employees won’t bring up new ideas for fear of being attacked and won’t be honest about problems. Moreover, very few great people with options are going to want to work for a fear-based manager.

8. Defensiveness. Managers who respond defensively when their decisions are questioned end up quashing dissent and making employees less likely to suggest new and different ways of doing things. Managers who are secure in their authority aren’t threatened by dissent, and they recognize that others’ ideas are sometimes better than their own.

9. Drama. A good manager minimizes drama, rather than causing it. If everything is a crisis around your manager, she’s probably what’s at the center of the problem.

10. Fear of conflict. If your manager avoids conflict and tough conversations, chances are high that employees don’t hear much feedback and problems don’t get addressed.

Shoddy Employee? You Could Be an Entrepreneur

Being bad at your current job might just be your cue to start an entrepreneurial career.

At a recent meeting, I heard the story of someone who announced that she was "smarter than everyone else in the company" and that she had been fired because the boss was jealous and insecure. While the room laughed at the perceived arrogance, I couldn't help but wonder, "Is this visitor delusional, or is she an undiscovered entrepreneur?"

Entrepreneurs often get a bad--though sometimes well-deserved--reputation for having a big ego. But what they may lack in humility is certainly compensated for by their sense of empowerment, fulfillment, and freedom. In fact, some of the worst employees make the best entrepreneurs and are often considered--by the corporate world at least--to be unemployable. Even more so, all current entrepreneurs had that moment when they knew that the promises of a traditional job or workenvironment would pale in comparison to a new opportunity.

Do you recognize the signs that a traditional workplace isn't for you? How do you know when it's time to take the leap?

Here are three signs you possess the skills it takes to be an effective entrepreneur:

Sign No. 1: You're Quick to Start, But Slow to Finish

In the Kolbe Index Test, entrepreneurs often score high in the Quick Start action mode and lower in the Implementor and Follow Thru action modes. This is because the big dreams of entrepreneurship often trigger hundreds of ideas. But for an employer, this type of team member is hard to manage when it comes to finishing projects and staying on task.

These personalities are best described as expanders--a little bit like bread dough that's infused with too much yeast. The entrepreneur who is an expander works best with a team or partner who can act as the container, one who reins in the expansion and supports with all the details. The corporate world attempts to beat the rising dough back into the smallest container possible, while entrepreneurship relies upon expansion and growth.

It's difficult to leave tasks unfinished in a traditional business environment, even when it becomes apparent that the goals have changed or the outcomes are not achievable. In this situation, an entrepreneur will see a new path--or 15 new paths--and want to jump into a new project with a greater chance of success. However, the same individual working a 9-to-5 will often drag out a project, never reach completion, but be unable to abandon it due to office politics or sunken costs.

Sign No. 2: You Can't Leave Good Enough Alone

For the cubicle-dwelling entrepreneur, few things are more frustrating than seeing opportunities to grow or transform a business go ignored. For the company, this desire to tinker with what's working well is viewed as meddlesome, encouraged (in small doses), or outright prohibited.

For established companies who have figured it all out, the entrepreneur's desire to improve, test, and try new ways of working can be threatening or viewed as a waste of time. The admonishment to just get the work done or leave good enough alone is frustrating to the entrepreneur who thrives in circumstances where convergent thinking is less important than following the rules.

While many entrepreneurs work with mentors, coaches, and colleagues to avoid reinventing the wheel, it's often the on-the-ground thinking that contributes to success. Seeing many paths and outcomes, judging the best one for the circumstances, and then implementing it is fun for the person who can't leave it alone. It's also essential to adaptive growth.

Sign No. 3: You Love Lazy Shortcuts

An entrepreneur has the tendency to find new paths and solutions, which often results in discovering shortcuts previously unseen. To some, this is seen as laziness. Three years ago, I was in my downtown office on a quiet Friday afternoon when nearly the entire office had left for the day. It was then that I heard the ironic judgment that propelled me into an entrepreneurial lifestyle:

"We love the work you do ... you're so efficient ... no one has done this job better," my boss said. "So we're cutting your hours." It wasn't easy to hear, and was even harder to understand at the time. But that moment has brought me much further than if I had continued to work 40-hours a week at adead-end job.

Nowhere else is the shortcut celebrated as much as in entrepreneurial business. We're forging a new path and learning what works to make life easier, tasks smoother, and expenses lower--things critical to survival. Instead of working for the sake of work or spending eight hours doing a task, entrepreneurs push boundaries, find shortcuts, and improve the process.

So are you a bad employee? Or a great entrepreneur? If you find your work style resembles these three scenarios, there is no surefire way to transform your cubicle environment so that your co-workers can appreciate and reward your unique approach. In fact, many managers don't know what to do with you and may be unable or unwilling to adapt. When you find yourself less engaged, frustrated by the politics, or expanding beyond your job description, you may in fact be unemployable and an undiscovered entrepreneur.

Kelly Azevedo is the founder of She's Got Systems, a custom coaching program that leads clients to get support, documenting and dominating in their fields. Kelly learned that her innate ability to create and utilize systems allowed her to complete tasks at corporate jobs in a fourth of the time and she sought out a more challenging environment. She has worked in successful six-figure and million-dollar online businesses, helping owners create the systems to serve their startup needs. Adapting quickly to the fast paced environment, constant changes and ever present challenge of communication in the online world, Kelly has supported her private clients in their group programs, private clients, product launches and all the daily business.

The Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) is an invite-only nonprofit organization comprised of the world's most promising young entrepreneurs. The YEC leads #FixYoungAmerica, a solutions-based movement that aims to end youth unemployment and put young Americans back to work.

How To Get A Promotion?

Remember the song Kolaveri, di? Of course you do.

It’s a mediocre, but catchy number, which is now a global phenomenon. And what made it into such a huge success? It’s music? Quirky singing style? A mixture of Tamil and English lyrics? Well, yes, to a certain extent, but mostly due to a brilliantly well thought out viral marketing strategy. It made someone listening to the song look COOL. Just like the ridiculously popular American sitcom, ‘Friends’ did. If you watched Friends in the 90s, you were considered uber cool. Mostly, we associate with certain fads because our friends are doing it.

To get a promotion, one of the most important favors you can do yourself is to create an aura of awesomeness around you. Not blatant self-promotion, but sending out subtle feelers on a continuous basis. What it does is, it slowly starts influencing people. Word of mouth does the rest. Assuming you’re working for a firm that has enough opportunities for promotions, you can follow these steps below to ensure you are one of candidates in the race to the top:

Be the only Jack of your trade:

If you are the assistant editor, you be the best darn assistant editor there is, like the main chef at a fancy restaurant. He goes, the restaurant loses business. Perform superlatively. Good reviews go a long way at the time of final assessment. Give it your all. Carve a niche for yourself. People should say and believe that there is no one else who can do your job as well as you. Once you have that reputation, half the battle is won. Additional traits like asking for more responsibilities, dressing impeccably (not in torn jeans and loose t-shirts), being well-groomed, and being punctual and regular at work also help immensely. Seem keen and enthusiastic. Put in those extra hours at work. Show them you’re ready for more.

A little tooting never harms:

It’s fine to be humble and polite about your achievements, but not always. Make sure your colleagues, your superiors, or anyone else in important positions knows about the projects you’ve been working on or are associated with. If a client has sent a testimony, make sure it reaches the right places through an email, most preferably: “Hey, just wanted to share with all of you what so and so sent across yesterday. So nice of so and so.” Simple. No need to go overboard. Whenever you get an opportunity, make sure you let your seniors know your future plans, career goals  and such. And that if there’s an opening for a senior position you would like to apply.

Be Mr. Likeable

It’s hard to be sugary sweet all the time and with everyone. You don’t need to. You can fake it. The world’s a stage and we’re all actors, right? You will always be friends with a select group of people, and there will be another set of people who you cannot tolerate. But that’s the real world for you. Be helpful, cordial and nice to people in general. Smile a lot. Hone your people skills. Relationships matter. Attend office parties, get-togethers. Network, do some PR. Know the people in the higher echelons. If the seniors are into smoking Cuban cigars and drinking Scotch, learn about these things so you can casually slip that knowledge into your conversations with them. “That lad right there, smart, enterprising chap, I tell you.” Once you get this line out of them, you, Sir, will be on your way to the moon. These relationships will also help when you have to go back to them for recommendation or reference letters.

Build them skills

You can never know everything there is to know about your field. So continue to learn. If this means going back to school, do it. It’s good if your firm offers you opportunities for professional development. But if they don’t, don’t shy away from augmenting your skills by joining a program or a workshop that will help you move forward in your career. If you are an editor, a program in editing and publishing will be great, if you are in marketing, a program in selling skills will do you good, say, even an executive MBA. You can enroll in the evening classes or weekend sessions. It will be hard. You will miss out on your social life, but this is equally important, too. Even cross-functional skills will be terrific. If you’re a marketer, you can try learning about finance and if you’re in HR, you could maybe try and get a handle on operations. Multi-skills will always come in handy when promotions are up for grabs. 

You do all of this, and before long you would be on the hot seat giving your promotion interview. And presuming you will sail through it like a hot knife through butter, remember one thing: never forget your colleagues, or develop an attitude, all of a sudden. They have been with you throughout, and will have your back if you share the same equation with them like earlier, before you got your fancy pay and a cabin with a view. Also make sure you send across a thank you note to your colleagues for their support, your supervisors who recommended you for the promotion, and also to the people who were in the interviewing panel.

And most important of all, do not jump the gun. Do not go around screaming about your promotion from rooftops. Wait for the company to officially announce it. There’s nothing more embarrassing than learning later that someone else got it.