Six Types of Managers to Manage

Managing Your
Manager book

“You’ll also find that each of the six types reflects the complexity of bosses. In other words, each type of boss has good points and bad ones; each type functions well or poorly in certain situations; and one type may be great for a direct report with a certain personality and terrible for another direct report who has a different style. What I’ve tried to do is reflect the reality of each common boss and not divide them into good bosses and bad bosses—which isn’t to say that all these types are created equal. As you’ll see, one of them is more difficult to work for than the others (at least for most people), and one of them is more fun.

I think it’s fair to give you a snapshot of each type here, though with the proviso that this snapshot doesn’t do their complexity justice. Still, I think it will be useful if you start thinking about these types...

1. The Bully—aggressive, command-and-control type; can deliver great results, but can also take bad risks and be a tough person to work for.
2. The Good—consistent, calm, communicative, but has problem with risk or anything that upsets the applecart.
3. The Kaleidoscope—shifting persona focused on accumulating and consolidating power; extremely bright and business savvy, but also difficult to get to know the real person and easy to resent controlling personality.
4. The Star—high-energy, dramatic, and action oriented, but has little patience with red tape or anything that requires patience; impulsiveness can get the group in trouble.
5. The Scientist—highly logical and reliant on a theory of the case, open to feedback, but also can stubbornly stick to a theory beyond all reason; can also be distracted and difficult to communicate with in this state.
6. The Navel—big ego in need of constant feeding; this ego can drive group to decide and execute with speed and skill; can also drive people to distraction as this boss makes everything about him.”

Above is an excerpt from the book “Managing Your Manager Your Manager: How to Get Ahead with Any Type of Boss” author Gonzague Dufour, copyright 2011 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 
Permission to reprint was granted by the publisher.
Read 1st post on Smooth Sailing with the Bully Manager.

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