How to deal with a tyrant应对“乔布斯式”难缠老板的秘笈导读:很多人都将自己的老板比作暴君(tyrant),严厉、苛刻、简直一无是处。但有个要求严格的上司并不一定是件坏事,而如何应付他/她才是每位员工要花点心思去了解的。
The official biography of Steve Jobs, the man behind the Apple mania, was released on October 24. The revealing book portrays a world-class genius, and at the same time, a “tyrant”.
作为引发“苹果风潮”的男人,史蒂夫?乔布斯的官方授权传记已于10月24号公开发售。这本书在描绘出一位世界一流天才的同时,也刻画出一位“暴君”。 There are stories of Jobs’ hot temper and obsessive perfectionism. He would say, “This is a dumb idea. This stinks.” In the original Macintosh team, they gave an award to the person who each year stood up to Jobs the best. Would you work for a boss as demanding as Jobs? 21st Century reporter Xu Jingxi interviewed experienced employees and bosses in case you do. They offer tips to cope with the following four scenarios. 1. The boss is picky about details. It’s alleged that Jobs asked engineers on the original iPod team to stay up all night fiddling with the headphone jack so that it made a more satisfying clicking sound. It’s ?beyond reproach that a boss demands perfect products. But if they keep finding fault with everything an employee does, it suggests they don’t trust them. Zhang Ying, 24, used to work in a management training company for a year, under a picky boss. To please her boss, Zhang had tried every possible size and color of the characters on a poster before she handed in the “best” design. But the boss asked Zhang to change the size and color over and over again. In the end, the boss decided to stick to Zhang’s choice, which she initially handed in. When your boss only believes what’s before their eyes, it’s a good idea to hand in alternatives with the proposal you deem the best, Zhang suggests. “With the comparison, it’s easier to convince your boss to buy into your proposal,” said Zhang. 2. The boss has a sharp tongue. When a boss is examining your work, get prepared for merciless criticism such as what Jobs said to his Macintosh team: This is dumb or this stinks. Like Jobs, the boss of Chris Xu, 25, a member of the staff at an audit firm in HK, has a sharp tongue. She once scolded a team leader as a “dumb” in front of the leader’s team. Xu doesn’t think it necessary for a boss to use such harsh words. “These words may tear up an employee’s confidence and thus influence their work performance later on,” said Xu. “Also, it will make the air in the office heavy and damage the staff’s morale.” The first rule of handling tart remarks is not to take it personally, according to Xu Longjiang, CEO of Ddmap.com. “No need to panic,” said the CEO. “The boss won’t bother scolding you if he wants to fire you. He will just ask the HR department to send you a letter.” If the words are insulting and the employee can’t take them, Xu Longjiang advises that they talk directly to their boss. “A candid boss will welcome employees’ candid feedback,” Xu explained. “The more straightforward the boss is, the less red tape you are restricted by.” 3. Nothing is impossible in the boss’ eyes. Jobs would say something like, “This piece of software needs to be written by the end of the week.” The engineers say, “No, no, it’ll take three months.” And Jobs says, “No. In reality it has to be done by the end of this week and it will be done.” Guess what? It would happen that the software was written in a week instead of three months. This example sounds “exaggerated” to Xu Longjiang because of the huge difference in the amount of time. But he did sometimes ask employees to speed up and finish a task in one week instead of two. What an employee should do with an urgent task is to finish it on time. “Before I reduce the time given for a task, I will assess the employee’s abilities and make sure that he or she is able to finish the task on time,” said the CEO. |
|