Recently, our software company Likeable Local began partnering with large companies to help reach more small businesses. Our first company, Likeable Media, works with many large companies as clients. So even though I don't have a boss, from time to time I've had to work with people I don't love. In fact, recently I began working with someone that I can only (nicely) call a total jerk. We'll call him Al to protect the guilty in this article.
Al is the kind of person who hates babies and kittens and is never happy. Al demands a lot of everyone around him at work. Al is often if not always critical, and is never one to praise or compliment coworkers and employees. It's always "Al's way or the highway." When I talked to someone at his company about Al, I was told, "Get in line. Nobody can stand the guy. But he's here because he gets results."
Do you know anyone like "Al"?
I've had the good fortune of building my own companies over the last seven years, and have worked very hard to build a likeable, positive, fun corporate culture at both, so it's been awhile since I've worked with a jerk. I could complain endlessly about working with a jerk, but the truth is, complaining won't change anything, for me, or for any of you out there who currently work with or for a jerk.
So instead, let's look at three suggestions for making work with a jerk, easier, for you and for me:
