>>"I have seen entire departments wiped out, and the only ones left standing are the boss and his jerk," says John Hoover, an organizational leadership consultant whose new book is titled "How to Work for an Idiot."
Posted on 04/07/2004 12:43:14 PM PDT by disclaimer
Are you sometimes a conniving weasel at work? Do you notice yourself stepping on other people's fingers as you scamper up the corporate ladder? Have you rudely ignored colleagues who can't help you advance?
If you answered yes to any of these questions, then you probably aren't the biggest jerk in your office.
That's because the really big jerks almost never acknowledge their devious behavior. In many ways, that's the secret to their success.
"Jerks are just normal folks carried to extremes," says Gloria Elliott, an organizational development consultant in Roanoke, Va. Having helped over 100 companies deal with obnoxious employees through her "Jerk Training" seminars, she sees a pattern: "I've never met a chronically difficult person who owns up to his actions."
So while the rest of us question our motives and behavior -- and try to resist our most ruthless impulses -- the really big jerks just keep plowing through the workplace, single-mindedly focused on furthering their own careers. To understand why a lot of them rise higher than the rest of us, you've got to understand their mind-sets.
They tend to be narcissistic, arrogant, manipulative and goal-oriented. They trust no one and refuse to collaborate. They lack a capacity for empathy but are skilled at politics. Though they purposely disregard how they are coming off to colleagues or subordinates, they often are very good at sweet-talking bosses, who remain oblivious to their dastardly ways. The result: Good people get fed up and leave companies, while jerks get promoted.
"I have seen entire departments wiped out, and the only ones left standing are the boss and his jerk," says John Hoover, an organizational leadership consultant whose new book is titled "How to Work for an Idiot."
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(Excerpt) Read more at sltrib.com ...
If you answered yes to any of these questions, then you probably aren't the biggest jerk in your office.
It's good to know I'm not the biggest jerk anyway. Click on the link above to read the rest of the article.
My wife is dealing with a true jerk in the workplace at the moment so I'm sending this article to her. Being that most Freepers are thoughtful they're probably not real jerks and would have an interest in this article as well. I've only met a few true jerks in my life at work - they're really sick individuals.
Yeah. They look happy in the rearview mirror.
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Yeah, Jerks! Personally I rat on those types while I throw my golf game for the boss. The creeps.
I was the last to leave the department. Strange thing is the higher-ups didn't do anything when they saw everyone packing it in. Even my stubborness to outlast the jerk supervisor wasn't enough when I saw his actions could possibly bring legal problems - against me.
They're really sick individuals - there'll probably be more of them with all the broken up families out there.
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