Robert Goodell is an executive coach who helps companies and individuals make the most of their human potential. During his more than 25 years in the field, he has found about 20 percent of managers are very good, another 20 percent are very bad, and the rest fall in between. He asked a group of managers to describe their best and worst bosses. Goodell distilled their responses in a series of articles issued by WJM Associates, a New York-based executive leadership organization whose faculty he serves on. Here is some of what Goodell reported:
Bad managers are “preoccupied with how they are viewed by influential stakeholders” in the organization. This trait is indicated by their tendency to:
Blame their own mistakes on others, particularly their subordinates, while also taking credit for subordinates’ good work,
Act deferentially towards superiors and demeaning towards subordinates,
Be fearful or suspicious of change until it is embraced by superiors, and
Embarrass or become offended easily.
Dispatches From The Front 