Sites you should visit

To read my free (but substantial) "manifesto" (on which the book is based), please click here.

If you've already read the book, please click here.

Why do bosses behave the way they do?

Do you have a bad boss or have you had a bad boss? If you haven’t chances are, sadly, you will have one in the future.  Bad bosses are everywhere, cutting across national and organisational boundaries.

Bosses induce anything from nervousness and anxiety to fear and absolute terror. But why do bosses behave badly? Why do apparently assertive and intelligent people bow down to bad bosses?

To solve the problem of bad bosses, conventional books tell you how to deal with a bad boss, or how to become a better boss yourself. But this new book makes the radical argument that bosses behave the way they do because of something outside of them. Similarly, something outside of you makes you behave submissively towards your bosses.

What’s that something? Through a field of study called Systems Thinking, this book investigates, and shows you why bosses are effectively programmed to be dictators.
 

"It's as normal to have a bad boss as it is to have a can of cola come out of a cola factory. It's abnormal to have a good boss."

- from my article in HRZone

The book also reveals how this results in our workplaces being built on the shaky foundation of fear, not freedom. It also provides real-life examples of the devastating consequences of the way organizations currently work, including:

• The Challenger and Columbia space shuttle disasters (NASA)

• The war on Iraq (CIA and other intelligence agencies)

• The world's worst aviation accident (Cockpit crew/commercial airlines)

Ultimately, beyond getting you to do things differently, this book will change the way you look at the issue of leadership in organizations.

Reader reviews for the manifesto and/or the book

"A controversial title has very effectively been justified by Chetan and has made me expand my understanding of human relations in the context of systems and environment in both personal and professional life. The excellent narrative with logical explanations and real examples makes the book very engrossing and eye opening."

Nitin Garg
MBA CMU, USA; BTech & MTech IIT Bombay
Director
International School of Management Excellence
Bangalore
http://www.isme.in/

"Your book is fantastic!  I teach a systems and processes graduate  course at Roosevelt University in Chicago and I directed my students  to the manifesto.  It stimulated some great interest and discussion  and I will assign in future courses."

Nicole Gravina, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Roosevelt University
Chicago and Schaumburg, IL
http://faculty.roosevelt.edu/Gravina/
http://www.nicolegravina.com

"Your paper is absolutely fantastic!"

- Barbara R. Saunders
http://www.roamingwriter.com
Twitter: @bsaunders

"This is a breakthrough in understanding organizational power and why bad management persists. I have learned much from reading your work."

- Les G. Miklosy
Former computer scientist
National Ignition Facility
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
California

“It's a great contribution to the growing awareness of rankism in the workplace.”

- Dr Robert Fuller (bio). Dr Fuller’s meeting with President Carter in the Oval Office in June 1977 led to the establishment of the Presidential Commission on World Hunger.

Dr Fuller is the author of The Mathematics of Classical and Quantum Physics, All Rise: Somebodies, Nobodies, and the Politics of Dignity, and Somebodies and Nobodies: Overcoming the Abuse of Rank
http://www.breakingranks.net

"The book is excellent! I have enjoyed it very much. Putting the advice in this book into effect will help enterprise owners and managers to increase the most important value: trust. Obviously, dictators will feel it as a threat to their power."

- Xavier Bria
Primary Healthcare Center Director
Tarragona
Spain

(This comment refers to the Spanish edition)

"I found your book really refeshing. It unlocked some of the most important concepts I need to know about the behaviour in 'power hierarchies'. I work with student development and have long thought about the reason for practices such as hazing when new students are brought into associations.

When I read your book, I found the language for the ideas that for so long were in my head, but not contained in a simple explanation."

- Pieter Kloppers
Manager, Student Housing
Stellenbosch University
South Africa

"Brilliant…and creative! 

Looking at the leader-follower relationship through the lens of systems thinking opens up a whole new dimension of creative perspectives around the relationship (besides coming to the realization that it’s the system, and not the individual, that must be redesigned).

The Stanford prison experiment and the article you reference in the NY Times really are sober reminders for my work with healthcare executives (especially physician leaders).  Physicians are trained in an abusive (dictatorial) context, and there is plenty of evidence to show how this behavior ultimately gets transmitted to others.  When they take on leadership roles, self-awareness is critical.  (I often wonder if physician leaders that still maintain a clinical practice can at least partially offset the ‘alpha dog’ effect!)

Cultures of fear, unfortunately, lead to a long list of tragedies in hospitals…many quality improvement and safety efforts are ultimately doomed from the start because of the failure to recognize the sort of context you describe.  Only a few people died in the Challenger and Discovery disasters…in the US, as you know, almost 100,000 people die each year due to medical error.

Finally, the medical evidence was compelling.  From a medical standpoint, there are also very clear neuro-chemical reasons that underlie these findings."

- Dr Manoj Pawar
Physician
Denver, Colorado

"Excellent book and I don’t say that lightly. The main thing I liked was that it was easy to read and the prose flows. Really well done. Several of the examples of the behaviour stick. I really liked the case studies with NASA and the war on Iraq, made the stories memorable."

-Shankar Mukherjee
Managing Director
Citigroup
London, England

""I thoroughly enjoyed your work detailing reasons a boss acts as a dictator. I have been in the workforce for over 30 years.  My environment was just like everyone else’s. 

My son is in his late twenties and in the work force.  I have often worried about what my son may have to endure being an American worker.  It can be a highly toxic place to be in more than one way. Hopefully, there will be a change in his lifetime. The change is too late for me.  I have already endured the dictatorship with dire consequences. Something has to change, our system is crumbling!! I don't want my son or grandchildren to endure what so many my age have endured, just to make a living. 

My husband also agrees and we have for many years talked about the horror stores from the work environment.  We don't want our son to have the memories, but unfortunately, at his very first job it happened!  It has absolutely left us lacking self esteem from the
memories.  Memories that go back as far as 30 years.

Now, the corporate execs from these huge, major companies are ready to retire and draw their huge bonuses and company retirement at the expense of millions of people.  I truly believe this is what is going on now.  Correct me if I am wrong, it does look that way to me!"

- Nrs Vickie L Mercer

"I have just finished your book why your boss is programmed to be a dictator. Thank you for writing such an illuminating read! I have had regular problems in my life with anxiety, almost always driven by issues arising from the workplace, I find in your work, some of the reasons that have caused my mental health to suffer - from being very conscious (and sensitive to) this dictatorship issue.

Interestingly I have recently been trying to set up an on-line forum to support those with mental health problems in the workplace. Although my immediate line manager is largely sympathetic, I have been shocked about the sheer fear that has resulted from me trying to set up a website that may effectively be an internal free press! It will be allowed to go ahead, but I fear that any criticism of the established order will be frowned upon (and of course I worry about what impact that may have on my career!).

Thank you for explaining to me in clear language why this situation occurs."

- Name with-held on request

"Eerily prescient"

- Name withheld on request
Financial services industry, UK

"Out of the boss thinking. Very, very absorbing."

- Preetha Pai

"Clearly, the future avoidance of workplace toxicity is important to anyone, whether you’re struggling to stay, or itching to leave.

In my opinion, Chetan Dhruve provides the best guidance in either case.

I stumbled across a 44-page, PDF summary of his book, Why Your Boss Is Programmed To Be A Dictator. Upon seeing the length I was ready to move on, but the introductory material was so compelling that I read the whole thing and determined that I would share it with all of you [blog readers] immediately.

It's a must-read for any employee worth his or her salt who feels trapped in a toxic, servile, or paternalistic corporate culture. Chetan lays out a convincingly simple, common-sense premise for understanding how institutionalized groupthink, rankism, and fear of reprisal can suck the life out of our careers and our health, unless we understand the systemic forces at work and take steps to break the paradigm."

- Stephen Michaelson
Lean 6Sigma Project Manager
United Airlines, Chicago
http://work-traveller.com

"Sheer brilliance of thought. I hope you start speaking and gain more notoriety!"

- Name with-held on request

"Very interesting and informative, brilliant research and writing - well done!"

- Shaun Orpen
London, Englan

"I admire you for your article which is as daring as pulling the lungi* of your boss. Your suggestion of voting the boss is revolutionary but very logical because this will show management the other side of the coin.

I was fired and humiliated by one of my old bosses for drawing cartoons. From that day on I stopped public exhibition of my cartoons but kept drawing them nevertheless. Your article vindicated my stand that creativity should not be curbed.

Power is the Viagra that makes a cat into a tiger and a boss into a dictator.

I got the article almost accidentally but having been a victim of shark bosses I could feel the impact of each word in your article."

- Name with-held on request

*Lungi - a skirt-like garment worn by men in the Indian sub-continent.

“Thoroughly enjoyed your "Dictator" manifesto - will be blogging on it and recommending it. Wonderfully thought-provoking.”

- Don Blohowiak
 Lead Well Institute  

"The idea is brilliant."

- Marios Souglides
Athens, Greece

"Gripping."

- K Bama Cariapa

"This book is a must read for all business practitioners who believe in "Fear is the key to good management ".

- Rahul Mukherjee
Cisco Systems (Bangalore)

"I was really impressed about the clarity you use to explain your points of view and I have to say that I can't agree more with them."

- Javier Pella
Diplomat
Peru

"I just finished reading your work entitled Why Your Boss is Programmed to be a Dictator and found it incredibly interesting.  What I found most interesting about your comments was the concept of the System." 

- Dave Ellison

"I have just finished reading your BossDictator manifesto with great interest. I have also read most of the linked references, and the time now is 1:10 am. I have learned something and discovered why certain events in my career did happen."

- Thomas Hyde
Norway

"I admire the way in which you have presented such a complex issue in such a simple way.... impressed with the humor and the deep thought behind. I found your suggestion for an Org structure impressive. I have proposed that we redraw our hierarchical Org structure that way. I have enjoyed the book immensely."

- Akshay Shah

"Very, very interesting."

 - Floriano Pohlmann
Brazil

"Your essay is very good. I'm sending it to a few bosses at my workplace; it will be part of the constant, gentle breeze I blow to change the direction of the organization."

- Richard Neufeld
Canada

"I was sent this PDF by a friend of mine. I didn't think I would read the full 44 pages, but I ended up doing so. It is fascinating to say the least. I would also like to thank you for bringing out to the reading public the fascinating facts about the Challenger and Columbia disasters and how the dictatorial hierarchies have boldly led the world to these disasters. It certainly was an eye opener to me."

- Bala Money
Australia

"I enjoyed reading your manifesto. Well done."

- W. David Bayless
Evergreen Innovation Partners
http://evergreenip.com/

"I enjoyed reading your manifesto. You make some great points."

- Asher Adelman
eBossWatch
www.eBossWatch.com
www.JerkFreeJobs.com
www.BossContest.com

Please note that views expressed are of the individuals, not necessarily those of their employers