My two books of reference for today's post are: THE MILLIONAIRE NEXT DOOR and THE NO-ASSHOLE RULE (in Italian it is called Il Metodo Anti-Stronzi).
The first, you will remember, is a study of American millionaires and what they have in common. When I first read it in about 1996 it was a personal revolution as I realized that what you see is not necessarily how things are. The second is a Harvard Business School study about how much it costs a company in economic terms to hire and keep an asshole in the office.
This weekend I was talking to a friend about how badly morale has suffered at his work since they hired a new director three years ago. He talked about how a once productive and usually happy group of people have become sullen and less productive. Even he dreads going to work now.
Scoundrels come in many forms. They bully and threaten and scare you and look for any reason to put a letter on your file or not pay you. I am taking what I have learned from these two books and bundling them with my own observations and those I have collected from friends to create a list of warning signs of people you should avoid working with if you can. This list is not by any means exhaustive. Many of these we know instinctively, but when you work with scoundrels you lose your courage. Hopefully this list will help you put things back into perspective.
If you see yourself in any of these, please, by all means. CHANGE IMMEDIATELY!
SCOUNDRELS:
1. Talk badly about suppliers (convinced they are paying for more than they are getting in return).
2. They mistrust people in general.
3. They have a difficult time creating a team that sticks with them for any amount of time.
4. Short-term vision. Poor planning.
5. See time as scarce rather than abundant. For this reason they "never" have time and are "always late." They transmit their panic to others, even through electronic devices!
6. They treat those they perceive as more important in the hierarchy well and those below them badly.
7. They talk about company money as their own as in "This is costing ME a fortune." But not in the Warren Buffet kind of way of paying attention to the company bank account as if it were your own.
8. Are ostentatious (questionable business trips, fancy cars).
9. Frivolous spending in the name of saving money.
10. Are often paranoid.
11. Have a tendency to micro manage (can't manage myself, so I will over-manage YOU!).
12. Very interested in titles and take great pride in their paper prestige.
13. Self doubt and insecurity disguised as over confidence.
14. Have a bad reputation (shoot. I should have put this one first!).
15. Make promises and excuses.
16. Victim mentality.
17. Believe that giving compliments shows weakness.
18. Interested in APPEARANCES.
19. Insulting to others.
20. Use an outdated Facebook photo that no longer resembles them.
21. Are poor managers of time/ resources/ self.
22. Think they are more clever than everyone else.
23. Are constantly reinventing the wheel at work rather than learning from previous experience.
24. Are convinced that no one can properly understand them and their work because they are SO complicated.
25. Give and accept favors.
26. Avoid confrontation.
and finally, my personal favorite:
27. When they enter a room, people leave.
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