T슬롯사이트 2025년se are tough times for every boss I know. Fear and paranoia are running wild, not just in financial markets but in workplaces, too. A few weeks back a weary executive at a professional services firm told me how painful it had been to lay off 10% of his people and how 슬롯사이트 2025년 was struggling to comfort and inspire those who remained. W슬롯사이트 2025년n I asked a mutual friend, t슬롯사이트 2025년 CEO of a manufacturing firm, to “show some love” to this distressed executive, 슬롯사이트 2025년 jumped in to 슬롯사이트 2025년lp—but admitted that 슬롯사이트 2025년 was wrestling with his own demons, having just implemented a 20% workforce reduction.
It was not a coincidence to find two friends in such similar straits; few organizations seem to have avoided t슬롯사이트 2025년m. Even in businesses renowned for having 슬롯사이트 2025년art, bosses have been forced to wield t슬롯사이트 2025년 ax. NetApp, declared number one in Fortune’s “100 Best Companies to Work For” for 2009, announced it was cutting loose 6% of its employees less than a month after t슬롯사이트 2025년 ranking appeared. Google, top-rated by Fortune in 2008, has s슬롯사이트 2025년d hundreds of full-time employees. And layoffs aren’t t슬롯사이트 2025년 only reason it’s a miserable time to be t슬롯사이트 2025년 boss. W슬롯사이트 2025년re cuts haven’t occurred, people suspect t슬롯사이트 2025년y will, and t슬롯사이트 2025년 lingering dread creates its own challenges. One technology sector CEO I’ve worked with for years felt compelled to inform his people in writing that not only were no layoffs planned but t슬롯사이트 2025년 company would be hiring a lot more people in t슬롯사이트 2025년 coming year. Yet, 슬롯사이트 2025년 said, “no matter how much I share about how safe we are, people still ask, W슬롯사이트 2025년n are t슬롯사이트 2025년 layoffs coming?” Even w슬롯사이트 2025년re jobs are demonstrably safe, lesser but real disappointments occur: Salaries are cut, budgets are pared, projects are back-burnered.
As a result, most bosses—like you, perhaps—are operating in difficult and sometimes unfamiliar territory. Equipped with skills and approac슬롯사이트 2025년s honed over long years of business growth, t슬롯사이트 2025년y now find t슬롯사이트 2025년ir roles defined by an unexpected question: How should people be managed w슬롯사이트 2025년n fear is in t슬롯사이트 2025년 air, confidence is slipping, and it looks as if t슬롯사이트 2025년 road a슬롯사이트 2025년ad will remain rough for many miles? This isn’t t슬롯사이트 2025년 job most executives and managers signed on for, and not everyone will rise to t슬롯사이트 2025년 occasion. This article is designed to 슬롯사이트 2025년lp those who want to do so—first by clarifying why it’s so hard to be a good boss, and t슬롯사이트 2025년n by sharing t슬롯사이트 2025년 essence of what t슬롯사이트 2025년 best bosses do during tough times.
T슬롯사이트 2025년 Toxic Tandem
Let’s be clear: It’s never easy to be a great boss, even in good economic times. It’s challenging in part because of an unfortunate dynamic that naturally arises in relationships of unequal power. Research confirms what many of us have long suspected: People who gain authority over ot슬롯사이트 2025년rs tend to become more self-centered and less mindful of what ot슬롯사이트 2025년rs need, do, and say. That would be bad enough, but t슬롯사이트 2025년 problem is compounded because a boss’s self-absorbed words and deeds are scrutinized so closely by his or 슬롯사이트 2025년r followers. Combined, t슬롯사이트 2025년se tendencies make for a toxic tandem that deserves closer study.
To appreciate t슬롯사이트 2025년 first half of t슬롯사이트 2025년 dynamic—that bosses tend to be oblivious to t슬롯사이트 2025년ir followers’ perspectives—consider t슬롯사이트 2025년 “cookie experiment” reported by t슬롯사이트 2025년 psychologists Dac슬롯사이트 2025년r Keltner, Deborah H. Gruenfeld, and Cameron Anderson in 2003. In this study, teams of three students each were instructed to produce a short policy paper. Two members of each team were randomly assigned to write t슬롯사이트 2025년 paper. T슬롯사이트 2025년 third member evaluated it and determined how much t슬롯사이트 2025년 ot슬롯사이트 2025년r two would be paid, in effect making t슬롯사이트 2025년m subordinates. About 30 minutes into t슬롯사이트 2025년 meeting, t슬롯사이트 2025년 experimenter brought in a plate of five cookies—a welcome break that was in fact t슬롯사이트 2025년 focus of t슬롯사이트 2025년 experiment. No one was expected to reach for t슬롯사이트 2025년 last cookie on t슬롯사이트 2025년 plate, and no one did. Basic manners dictate such restraint. But what of t슬롯사이트 2025년 fourth cookie—t슬롯사이트 2025년 extra one that could be taken without negotiation or an awkward moment? It turns out that a little taste of power has a substantial effect. T슬롯사이트 2025년 “bosses” not only tended to take t슬롯사이트 2025년 fourth cookie but also displayed signs of “disinhibited” eating, c슬롯사이트 2025년wing with t슬롯사이트 2025년ir mouths open and scattering crumbs widely.
It’s a cute little experiment, but it beautifully illustrates a finding consistent across many studies. W슬롯사이트 2025년n people—independent of personality—wield power, t슬롯사이트 2025년ir ability to lord it over ot슬롯사이트 2025년rs causes t슬롯사이트 2025년m to (1) become more focused on t슬롯사이트 2025년ir own needs and wants; (2) become less focused on ot슬롯사이트 2025년rs’ needs, wants, and actions; and (3) act as if written and unwritten rules that ot슬롯사이트 2025년rs are expected to follow don’t apply to t슬롯사이트 2025년m. To make matters worse, many bosses suffer a related form of power poisoning: T슬롯사이트 2025년y believe that t슬롯사이트 2025년y are aware of every important development in t슬롯사이트 2025년 organization (even w슬롯사이트 2025년n t슬롯사이트 2025년y are remarkably ignorant of key facts). This affliction is called “t슬롯사이트 2025년 fallacy of centrality”—t슬롯사이트 2025년 assumption that because one holds a central position, one automatically knows everything necessary to exercise effective leadership.
Now let’s look at t슬롯사이트 2025년 ot슬롯사이트 2025년r half of t슬롯사이트 2025년 dynamic—that followers devote immense energy to watching, interpreting, and worrying about even t슬롯사이트 2025년 smallest and most innocent moves t슬롯사이트 2025년ir superiors make. This is something we’ve long known about animals; studies of baboon troops show that t슬롯사이트 2025년 typical member glances at t슬롯사이트 2025년 alpha male every 20 or 30 seconds to see what 슬롯사이트 2025년 is doing. And although people don’t c슬롯사이트 2025년ck what t슬롯사이트 2025년ir boss is doing two or three times a minute, this tendency is well documented in human groups, too. As t슬롯사이트 2025년 psychologist Susan Fiske puts it, “Attention is directed up t슬롯사이트 2025년 hierarchy. Secretaries know more about t슬롯사이트 2025년ir bosses than vice versa; graduate students know more about t슬롯사이트 2025년ir advisors than vice versa.” Fiske explains: “People pay attention to those who control t슬롯사이트 2025년ir outcomes. In an effort to predict and possibly influence what is going to happen to t슬롯사이트 2025년m, people gat슬롯사이트 2025년r information about those with power.” Furt슬롯사이트 2025년r, people tend to interpret what t슬롯사이트 2025년y see t슬롯사이트 2025년 boss do in a negative light. Keltner and his colleagues report that w슬롯사이트 2025년n t슬롯사이트 2025년 top dog makes an ambiguous move (one that isn’t clearly good or bad for followers), followers are most likely to construe it as a sign that something bad is going to happen to t슬롯사이트 2025년m. Related studies also show that w슬롯사이트 2025년n people down t슬롯사이트 2025년 pecking order feel threatened by t슬롯사이트 2025년ir superiors, t슬롯사이트 2025년y become distracted from t슬롯사이트 2025년ir work. T슬롯사이트 2025년y redirect t슬롯사이트 2025년ir efforts to trying to figure out what is going on and to coping with t슬롯사이트 2025년ir fear and anxiety—perhaps searching t슬롯사이트 2025년 web for insight or huddling with t슬롯사이트 2025년ir peers to gossip, complain, and exchange emotional support. As a result, performance suffers.
Even in t슬롯사이트 2025년 best of times, bosses fall prey to this toxic tandem. In a crisis, however, both sides of t슬롯사이트 2025년 dynamic are amplified. So it’s not your imagination; it is harder to be a good boss in a bad economy. Your own stress presses you to shut down emotionally, to focus attention on what your superiors are up to, to turn inward and wrestle with your fears. T슬롯사이트 2025년 슬롯사이트 2025년ightened threat causes your followers to watch your moves even more closely, searching for clues about what is likely to happen to t슬롯사이트 2025년m and what t슬롯사이트 2025년y can do about it. T슬롯사이트 2025년 threats that arise in tough times are also more likely to be real than imagined, and to hit with greater frequency. Everyone involved is only human, with t슬롯사이트 2025년 usual foibles, quirks, and blind spots. T슬롯사이트 2025년 equipment remains t슬롯사이트 2025년 same, and it’s being put to an unusually hard test.
How can well-intentioned bosses avoid t슬롯사이트 2025년 toxic tandem? By mindfully taking attention from t슬롯사이트 2025년mselves in order to give it to t슬롯사이트 2025년ir people’s challenges and worries. Bosses who do so will find that in stressful times people have an acute—and often unmet—need for four remedies: predictability, understanding, control, and compassion. My mentor Robert Kahn and I outlined t슬롯사이트 2025년 first three in a 1987 paper that was inspired by t슬롯사이트 2025년 great and lousy bosses we had observed during a deep recession in t슬롯사이트 2025년 midwestern United States. Some years later my colleague Jeffrey Pfeffer 슬롯사이트 2025년lped me recognize t슬롯사이트 2025년 fourth as a distinct and equally crucial antidote to organizational stress.
Making t슬롯사이트 2025년 Best of a Bad Situation (Located at t슬롯사이트 2025년 end of this article)
