Crazy Bosses [Hardcover]

Easy to read, written with wit and actual substance, this book (predecessor to the very popular "Who Moved My Cheese?" and "When Smart People Work for Dumb Bosses") helped get me through some difficult times.

If you can't just stop working to do something you really enjoy -- and not many can, aside from Dilbert's Scott Adams and me -- this book is like an emotional teddy bear with teeth. He defines different "Crazy Bosses" by behavior (most of us are a mix), reasons why they may be that way, and practical ways to work with them, because most of aren't likely to get away from them, even if we change corporations and bosses.

The truth most of us don't want to know is that the insanity of the business world is ours to deal with, not management's to fix. There is no one coming to the rescue - and we each play our own part to the madness, by our own responses. This book is a good aid with suggestions on what to do and what NOT to do, to survive.

We have to rely on our own emotional and physical health, friends, a sense of humor and a sense of our own self-worth (aside from work) so we won't feel like a victim.

The book I found the most helpful throughout my corporate life - and it was great in my real life, too - was M. Scott Peck's "The Road Less Traveled." "Life is difficult," and once we figure that out, we can get on with living! If you are feeling like a victim, read these books and start a discussion with a friend or two!

Good luck - and rest assured that there *is* life after work!

Esquire columnist Bing wears his liberal business and political opinions on his sleeve. References to Nixon, the Reagans, and to candidate Gary Hart abound (the book also features an odd Oliver North analogy). He also name-checks notorious 80s figures like Michael Milken, Ivan Boesky, Jim Bakker, and even Lou Holtz. While some of Bing's many anonymous testimonials shock and surprise (especially one on an alcoholic boss with a surprise happy ending representing his best writing here) many seem like workplace whining from people you also would not wish to work with, let alone for.

Bing properly blames psychotic boss behavior and its effects (obsessive perfectionism, unfair preferences, inconsistent policies) on need for short-term profits, demand to create and chart corporate culture, sycophants who feed need and ego of the powerful (making converts along the way), which in turn exert it over those beneath by stealing time, thought, and morale. Bing delves into these areas with some humor but often unneeded commentaries after quotes that speak well on their own. Yet his comments on workaholism, which in his chapter "Diaster Hunter" he groups with alcoholism, drug abuse, and sexual harrassment, properly expose that trait for the character and family-breaking flaw it is.

Although Bing's recent "What Would Machiavelli Do?" seems to cover similar subject matter with more pointed humor, "Crazy Bosses," with a 90s rewrite, could remain a useful reference to those needing instruction and reinforcement in the workplace. No employee, whether working for Ebeneezer Scrooge or Al Dunlap, is ever their job. Bing's book reminds its readers of this fact, and is recommended reading where you find it.