No one units out to grow to be that boss. You recognize the one. The explanation folks cry in parking heaps, refresh job listings on lunch breaks, or commerce horror tales over dinner with mates. And but, even well-meaning leaders can veer off track, particularly when the ego will get a seat on the management desk.
Ego doesn’t at all times seem like yelling or slamming doorways. It’s typically subtler: the unreturned emails, the selections made in a vacuum, the performative reward. And whereas these habits could really feel justified and even strategic within the second, they quietly unravel the very factor each chief must succeed—belief.
Listed here are 5 ego-fueled choices that is likely to be branding you because the “worst boss ever” with out you realizing it.
1. Taking Credit score (Even Only a Little)
You didn’t flat-out lie. You simply… neglected just a few names. You introduced the work as a “workforce win” when everybody knew it was one individual’s brainchild. Or possibly you accepted public reward with out redirecting the highlight. It appears innocent. In any case, you accepted the thought. You gave them the possibility.
However right here’s the reality: when your workforce notices you harvesting credit score for his or her labor, belief evaporates. Quick. Staff cease sharing daring concepts. They maintain the very best components of themselves guarded. Why give their all if you happen to’ll put on their success like a badge?
Management isn’t about being the neatest individual within the room. It’s about ensuring the neatest voices within the room are heard and correctly credited.
2. Ignoring Suggestions As a result of You “Know Higher”
You’ve been within the business for years. You’ve seen tendencies come and go. So when a direct report suggests a special technique or voices discomfort with a course of, it’s straightforward to brush them off. However right here’s the intestine examine: Is it expertise talking or ego?
If you dismiss suggestions reflexively, particularly from youthful or much less skilled workers, you ship a transparent message: Your voice doesn’t matter right here. That’s how innovation dies. That’s how expertise walks out the door.
Nice bosses know when to face agency and when to hear deeply. Generally, the very best transfer isn’t defending your choices however opening your self as much as change.
3. Micromanaging Below the Guise of “Excessive Requirements”
You inform your self it’s about excellence. You need issues carried out proper. However if you happen to’re hovering over each draft, rewriting emails, or redoing somebody’s work with out giving them an opportunity to repair it first, what you’re doing isn’t main. It’s controlling.
Micromanagement isn’t a character quirk. It’s an ego-driven behavior rooted in worry—worry that others won’t carry out in addition to you, or worse, that they’ll outperform you. And guess what? They need to. Your job as a frontrunner isn’t to be the very best at the whole lot. It’s to construct a workforce the place folks thrive and take possession. In the event that they stumble, coach them. In the event that they shine, rejoice them. However allow them to personal their work. Micromanagers don’t develop groups. They shrink them.
4. Making Each Choice Behind Closed Doorways
There’s a sort of energy excessive that comes from making massive strikes with out enter. Saying shock adjustments. Dropping restructures or new expectations with no warning. It feels decisive. Chief-like. However when choices have an effect on folks’s roles, workloads, or objectives (and so they weren’t consulted), it doesn’t really feel daring. It seems like a betrayal.
Staff don’t have to vote on each alternative. However they do want transparency. They deserve the courtesy of being looped in on choices that form their day-to-day. In any other case, you grow to be the boss who blindsides, not the one who builds belief. The ego seeks to regulate. Management seeks collaboration.
5. Weaponizing Reward or Silence
Ever give a praise simply to maintain somebody in line? Or withhold it to humble somebody who’s getting “too assured”? It’s a basic ego transfer: utilizing recognition as a device of manipulation. Reward turns into a leash. Silence turns into punishment.
When workers can’t belief the authenticity of your suggestions, they cease searching for it and cease caring about assembly your expectations. That’s how disengagement begins. Recognition shouldn’t be a thoughts recreation. It must be well timed, particular, and freely given. It ought to construct folks up, not field them in. Ask your self: Is your reward about their progress or about your management?
Being the Boss Folks Need to Comply with
There’s no excellent chief. However the distinction between a “dangerous boss” and a revered one typically comes down to 1 factor: ego consciousness. If you lead from humility, you invite belief. You create house for expertise, creativity, and progress, not simply in your workforce however in your self.
So, if any of those habits sound acquainted, take coronary heart. They’re not deadly flaws. They’re crimson flags, and crimson flags are simply indicators that one thing wants consideration. Fixing them doesn’t make you weak. It makes you value following.
Have you ever ever labored below a boss who let their ego get in the way in which? What did you want that they had carried out in another way?
Learn Extra:
13 Micro-Supervisor Habits Quietly Pushing Your Greatest Folks Out the Door
8 Supervisor Errors That Make Gifted Staff Job-Hunt by Lunchtime
Riley is an Arizona native with over 9 years of writing expertise. From private finance to journey to digital advertising to popular culture, she’s written about the whole lot below the solar. When she’s not writing, she’s spending her time exterior, studying, or cuddling along with her two corgis.
