Episode 17 – “How to Work for an Idiot”

Do you work for an idiot boss? In episode 17 on Work Mom Says, Work Mom (Lori Jo Vest) offers some tips and tricks for surviving and thriving under an idiot boss. From learning how to “finesse” people to staying strategic and out of workplace drama, we help you get the most out of working for an idiot boss without losing your mind.

Themes discussed in this episode

• Everyone can be perceived as an idiot
• Idiot engineering and learning how to “finesse” people
• Lori tells a story of an idiot boss
• How to stay strategic and look at this job as a stepping stone to something else
• The cost-benefit analysis of staying vs leaving

Episode Highlights

Timestamped inflection points from the show

1:31 – Reframing your idiot boss: Choose to view your idiot boss as a person with good qualities and faults rather than just an idiot.

7:22 – Idiot Engineering: Make your working conditions more conducive to your career growth.

11:28 Don’t make meaning: Rather than make meaning out of an annoying occurrence, can you focus on what you want to accomplish instead?

12:50 Make them look good: When you do good work and make your idiot boss look good, they will treat you better.

Quotes:

• 2:11 – “Look at someone as a full one hundred percent human being with both wonderful qualities and faults and flaws, just like you, so that compassion can help you reframe that idiot boss and help you see them as people rather than just idiots.”

• 7:35 – “Even though idiot bosses are inevitable, they are not terminal.”
• 11:40 – “We are meaning-making machines. Something happens, we make a meaning out of it, and then we behave, talk, act based on the meaning that we gave that occurence. So instead, are there things that happen that your boss does that you could just ignore, and focus instead on what you want to accomplish?”
• 13:08 – “They really like it when you compliment them, when you manage their personality, and when you give them what they need. They will think more highly of you”

Who is our ideal listener?

We do this podcast for young professionals, so they can learn to play the emotional context sport of business and experience. We also do it to help them experience less drama and more success.

The ideal listener to me is anyone who is struggling at work with emotion management and anyone who’s struggling on an emotional level in the workplace. Honestly, that happens to all of us at some point. We get all knotted up about something. Someone was nasty to you in the parking lot before you went into work, so you’re a little anxious to start. The person that you sit next to gives you a dirty look or slams their office drawer. There’s just all these things that happen in your life day to day, and they create an emotional response.

At work, we’re expected to be logical. How can you be more logical and less emotional? Be strategic. What we talk about on Work Mom Says has a lot to do with being strategic at work, being able to look at the big picture, not getting lost in the weeds. I tell people to back up, you put down the magnifying glass, look at the big picture when you’re responding to something. In doing this, you will understand that what’s really upsetting you right now will be something you don’t even remember next week.

Being crabby, saying something negative to somebody at the office, or putting a snarky comment in an email isn’t really productive because from a strategic point of view, it’s all irrelevant. You should be looking at it from a logical perspective. Some of that involves framing, reframing, and being attentive to what you want your end goal for the situation.

What value can people get from listening to this podcast?

Listening to Work Mom Says is a really good way to grow your personal mood management skills, to grow your ability to reframe situations, and look at things from a strategic point of view so that it’s easier to go into a work situation and get the most positive results.

When emotions go up, logic goes down. So, when you can keep your emotions steady and stable, and not grab a hold of that feeling of angst and make it worse, you’re going to be more logical in what you do. You’re going to make fewer mistakes. You’re going to be more productive overall. You’re going to have stronger relationships.

Another value I think people get out of this is learning to create connected positive relationships that last over time. That’s not always easy. A lot of what we talk about on Work Mom Says involves being able to create connected positive relationships and work environments, so that people want you on the team. You become an asset, and when you’re an asset, you’re going to be more successful.

I also like to talk about developing traits like optimism, persistence, tenacity, stick-to-itiveness, sticking with things, and approaching every project with a curious mind instead of a fearful mind.

Why do I do this?

I do this because I naturally fell into the Work Mom role when I worked in the ad agency business, and I had so much fun with it. I also realized I had made just about every mistake there is to make. I don’t hold myself out there as any kind of stellar example of truth and how you should be. I hold myself out there as someone who has been bruised and battered and beaten up and learned some really important lessons. I’d love to share these lessons with young people, so they don’t have to make those same mistakes or be the idiot that I was, and I was an idiot. However, I learned so much, and it’s really rewarding to share that with young professionals and help them avoid some of those mistakes and get to that success sooner.

I also want to help them realize that a lot of things our culture prioritizes aren’t really important. We talk a lot about what should be important and how to present your best face at the office, so you can succeed.

Episode 17 – “How to Work for an Idiot” appeared first on Work Mom Says.

The post Episode 17 – “How to Work for an Idiot” appeared first on Work Mom Says®.