Bad bosses are part of life. These days, having a job usually means putting up with managers you don’t always like, and plenty of them are bullies. The trick is knowing when to tolerate a little bad behavior and when to get out.
I felt genuinely let down when I learned how poorly Amy Klobuchar reportedly treats staff. I’d always thought of her as a tough, hardworking leader with some compassion. I never expected she’d be so harsh with people. Her staff turnover is among the highest in the Senate — turnover is about as good a test as there is for a bad boss.
Some managers take shortcuts: they shame and belittle people and think that will drive better work. But that rarely works. Think of parenting — losing your temper and shaming a child might get a quick reaction, but patience builds confident kids without humiliation. Read enough accounts of Klobuchar’s office and you get the sense she leans on the easy, brutal route to get results. It’s odd: someone sharp and effective at the job who’s clueless about treating people right.
Resilience lets a lot of us keep spinning on the hamster wheel. Some of us grow a callus from hard childhoods, some are just tougher by nature. Many of Klobuchar’s former staffers survived those rough tactics and stuck around, which creates a “survivor effect” — if you stay long enough you start to feel like you’ve earned something. Maybe you even win begrudging respect from a bad boss. But that doesn’t mean it’s healthy.
I’ve had difficult managers, and each showed me new ways not to treat people. In one job I was the golden child who could do no wrong, but I watched the same manager tear others down on calls and make life miserable. I didn’t want to stay, and I tried to raise the issue with other leaders. I’d challenge long-term staffers everywhere to ask whether they’re enabling the problem by staying out of loyalty to surviving it. Easier said than done, especially if a boss badmouths staff to future employers.
Despite writing about sticking it out at work, I’ll admit this: you need a decent leader. An adult boss who treats everyone with respect — staff, waiters, drivers, customer-service reps, family — makes all the difference. Resilience is valuable, but only for the work itself. Don’t settle for a toxic boss; leave if you can.
This isn’t a judgment on Klobuchar’s ability to do a tough job. Her pragmatism and toughness may be necessary. Still, can a team win if its leader is a jerk? Plenty of examples — in sports and business — show that being tough and strategic often comes hand-in-hand with being a jerk. But there are leaders who inspire without being cruel.
Search for “leaders who treat their employees well” and you won’t get a neat list from Google, but they do exist. From my experience, when my boss was an ass my work suffered; when leaders built trust and led by example, my performance improved dramatically. It’s a simple equation.
Klobuchar could learn to lead people better. Her pattern of high turnover and harsh treatment suggests she forgets the human side of a workplace. Toxic environments can change. The best products and most lasting innovation come from teams that feel safe and trusted. A senator’s office or a campaign shouldn’t be different.
Bob Sutton’s work is full of useful insight on why jerk leaders fail and how to handle or change that behavior. His book The No Asshole Rule is worth reading. I hope Klobuchar becomes the kind of leader she wants to appear to be: tough and decisive, but with real compassion.
Look at Steve Jobs: he was famously harsh early on, then grew into a more grounded leader after returning to Apple, trusting others and helping spark an incredible turnaround. Time and maturity can change a driven, demanding person into a more effective leader. We’ll see if the same happens with other intense leaders whose workaholic styles have left staff behind, and with figures like Jeff Bezos, whose views on work-life balance and treatment of workers have drawn scrutiny. There’s plenty more to say on those cases, but that can wait for another day.