Armed with an education that extended way beyond my majorโ€™s coursework, I was full of excitement and nerves the day I graduated from college and started my first real job. ย I was ready to conquer the world.ย  I knew about personal budgets, workplace etiquette, business economics, business communication, I even knew how to pack my own delicious lunch.ย  I was eager to become an unstoppable money-making machine…until the first day when I met my new boss.

He was the antithesis of everything a leader should beโ€ฆmean, cowardly, demotivating.ย  I would take a vacation on days he did not just so I didnโ€™t have to be around him.ย  I would seek the counsel of other managers just to avoid speaking to him.ย  If I did have to speak to him, I would write out my lines and rehearse them before I stepped into his office.ย  He was the very definition of a bad boss.ย 

But I was in the infancy of my career, and in no financial position to quit my new job, so I waited it out. ย And eventually, after a few long months, I was moved to a different team, and life returned to normal.ย  Please donโ€™t follow that game plan though; it was one of the most brutal experiences of my career.ย  Looking back, hereโ€™s what I would have done differently.

Communicate: ย First, understand that there are many different ways to communicate with other people, so itโ€™s important to understand how you communicate. ย I am a generally enthusiastic, optimistic, influencing communicator.ย  This is both, how I like people to speak to me, and how I speak to other people.ย  But this is not the way my boss communicated.ย  He was competitive and results-oriented.ย  I should have spoken to him and been direct and to the point, without the superfluous charm I naturally wanted to add.

Had I known more about communicating and identifying the different ways people communicate I would have realized that I needed to adapt to his style.ย  This is a simple modification to make when dealing with your superior and where I recommend you start when you think you have a bad boss.ย  It should alleviate a little of the daily stress between you two too.

Learn:ย  Having such a bad leader so early in my career was actually a great learning experience.ย  Looking back, I was gaining valuable (yet painful) lessons on how to lead and motivate a group of people.ย  All I had to do is refer to my notes and do the exact opposite!ย 

Iโ€™m kidding of course, but pay close attention to the way your boss conducts him or herself.ย  Iโ€™m pretty sure they arenโ€™t 100% terrible at their job and have a few redeeming qualities which propelled them to their managerial position.ย  So take the good, take the bad, and study it like a football player studies a playbook.ย  There are valuable, free lessons to learn if you just pay attention.

Stay Positive:ย  This is easy advice to give and hard advice to take.ย  I took my bad boss situation week-by-week, day-by-day, hour-by-hour, and concentrated on all the positive things I had going for me at my current job.ย  First, I had a paycheck, medical insurance, and a savings plan in a time when the nationโ€™s economy was plummeting.ย  I was also meeting coworkers on other teams and in other departments that were becoming part of my network.ย  Finally, I was gaining industry knowledge and experience I could parlay into a better job with a better boss. Pay close attention to the positives and let the negatives roll off our back.

If you find yourself under the tyranny of an autocratic, overbearing leader, donโ€™t be afraid to stick up for yourself as an employee of the business and a human being.ย  And if you havenโ€™t worked up the courage to get there yet, just concentrate on your delicious lunch.