“It sure did kick up some excitement in the Senate when one Senator called the other Senators ‘sons of Wild jackasses.’ Well, if you thought it made the Senators hot, you wait till you see what happens when the jackasses hear how they have been slandered.” ~Will Rogers

I think it is fair to say that at one time or another, we have all worked for a leader who was a jackass.

And while we may be advancing as a civilization (some may argue), I think we can safely say that jackasses will continue to take up a percentage of leadership positions.

That said, I thought I would compile a list of behaviors I have seen, experienced, or observed, over the course of my career that qualifies these leaders for entrance into the jackass stable.

15 Behaviors That Tell You, You’re a Jackass:

1. You let Human Resources or other people do your dirty work (letting go of people, having a difficult conversation, announcing layoffs, etc.) because you’re a coward.
2. You make business decisions on suppliers so you can vacation regularly near your summer home, even though the vendor is not qualified and eventually hurts the business because they never deliver.
3. You bring people into your company under the guise of needing their expertise and preach teamwork. A few months later the real reason you brought them is revealed when you let go of the folks you always planned on replacing.
4. You are an insecure person in a new position, so you misread the intentions of others who try to help you, and then accuse them of a behavior only you would act on.
5. You allow folks to stay in a key leadership position, even though you have caught them in multiple ethical violations.
6. You believe you and you alone can fix the problem because you’re so great, so you reject any other solutions or suggestions from others, even when it is an extremely complex issue. When it fails you blame everyone and everything but yourself.
7. Being a family member in a family business, you believe you’re entitled to a position because your last name is the same as the owners, even though you aren’t qualified nor do you have the experience. When the truth comes out, you do everything you can to legally, physically, emotionally, and financially damage the party you believe offended you.
8. You stay in your leadership position even though you’re an ineffective leader because you are simply buying time till you retire.
9. You’re a business owner who cries the business is not doing well, costs are up and revenue is down, waste is out of control, and then you show up with a news Rolls Royce on the day you lay-off folks (Yes, this is 100% true).
10. You overpay to buy a company because of your ego, when your stock tanks and shareholders are unhappy, you blame the employees who have been loyal to the company instead of owning your mistakes and walking away because your incompetent. When and if you walk away, you take an undeserved golden parachute at a great expense to the company.
11. You are petty and insecure because you come from a repressive culture, so you act like an entitled dictator while squeezing every last cent from your employee’s and ignoring their legitimate issues.
12. You exhibit extremely unprofessional behavior in a bar during a work happy hour, when an employee complains to HR you seek retribution behind-the-scenes to cover your self-loathing.
13. You intentionally try to intimidate others with a behavior that is an attempt to threaten them. For example, having a container of pencils on your desk that you start snapping to let them know your upset instead of respectfully voicing your displeasure (yes this is also 100% true).
14. You hire a coach for someone and then fire them within 30 days, just so you can say you tried everything, knowing you already made up your mind to let them go 60 days earlier.
15. You sell yourself out (values, morals, sense of self-worth, etc..) for a promotion or a position, even worse, is selling out your people, your peers, or your family.

You Always Reap What You Sow

While I’m sure these leaders thought they were escaping the consequences of their behaviors, eventually Emerson’s Law of Compensation  delivers. The Law of Compensation states that for every action in which you gain, you lose something.

Some of the folks in these examples who gained initially, eventually lost much more. Some of these leaders lost their businesses, their jobs, their health, their marriages, and their families. For some of them who haven’t quite experienced the full impact of their choices quite yet, it will come, it always does. It rarely happens immediately, but it always happens eventually!

If you work currently work for a leader who is a jackass, there is a pretty good chance they will not change. You have to look long and hard at whether you are wasting your time, talent, or energy there and if you don’t see a path out, it might be a good time to get out.

The Courage to Change

I don’t believe that most leaders set out to be a jackass. I think deep down they are good people, they just got lost along the way when they made their leadership about serving themselves instead of serving others.

If you are one of these leaders described above you still have an opportunity to change your ways. However, you can’t change unless you’re willing to look at yourself, which is not an easy thing to do.

In a time when the world needs extraordinary leadership, we need leaders who have the courage to change. Don’t look externally and point your finger at others, start by looking internally and do the work it takes to change.

Wanna be a better leader by being a better person? (Click here)

This is the final blog in the 10-part Leadership Faux Pas Series, we hope you have enjoyed the series!