If you are like 80 percent of Americans, (according to Kauffman research) you believe that entrepreneurs will rebuild the U.S. economy. If you’re an entrepreneur, you’re certain.
Michelle McQuaid - a "movement entrepreneur" with a mission to stop bad bosses.
Like Michelle McQuaid, for example. McQuaid is a “movement entrepreneur” who’s taking on workplace bullying, one boss at a time. She says it will save our economy $360 billion in lost productivity each year. For harassed employees, it’s also likely to save their health and family relationships, which are all too often strained by this increasingly bad situation.
McQuaid is an internationally acclaimed positive psychologist and an expert in workplace interventions. She’s about to release a study on just how much bad bosses cost businesses in just the U.S. alone, and she’s penned a book that offers 24 strategies on how to make a bad boss better. (Hold onto your hats for the title: “5 Reasons To Tell Your Boss To Go F***k Themselves.)
No, I don’t condone swearing. But before you write Michelle off entirely, it’s worth knowing her rationale—Michelle says studies show that swearing is a source of pain relief. Pushed to the brink by her own horrible boss, and armed with expertise in positive psychology in the workplace, McQuaid is leading a movement for National Boss Day on October 16. She urges anyone who is interested to sign an online petition to raise awareness of this issue in organizations, and even more importantly, to encourage them to act. She hopes to bring the petition forward to the nation’s top 100 CEOs at the Wall Street Journal CEO Conference inWashington in mid-November.
Thanks to the Internet, cause-minded leaders can readily build a movement that extends far beyond the steps of the New York Stock Exchange or Capitol Hill. And that’s what this entrepreneur is hoping to do.
Michelle McQuaid's new book is available now.
According to McQuaid, three out of every four people report that their boss is the most stressful part of their job. Bad bosses are bad for employees, bad for business and bad for our communities.
Here are the facts:
Bad bosses destroy our health - it takes most people 22 months to free themselves of bad bosses by which time our stress levels risk becoming chronic. Not only does this much stress shift our brain towards anxiety or depression, it also wears down our immune system leaving us at risk of more colds, diseases, strokes and even heart attacks. Unfortunately, this doesn’t just impact those of us with bad bosses as depression can be contagious spreading the misery of a bad boss through our families and entire communities.
Bad bosses undermine our success – people with bad bosses earn less money and get fewer promotions. Not only that, but poor relationships with our supervisors costs our economy $360 billion each year in lost productivity. Instead of a workforce engaged in addressing the critical economic, environmental, health and geo-political issues of our times we’re deliberately slowing down, making errors on purpose, avoiding our bosses and taking unnecessary sick leave all because of the incivility and rudeness of bad bosses.
Bad bosses cost money – According to Michelle, when one organization decided to deduct from a boss’ salary the financial costs – legal fees, recruitment fees, training fees and management time – that his bad behavior had caused in one year added up to nearly $160,000. Of course ultimately it’s the employees and customers of these companies who pay for this as part of the “labor overheads” that limit profitability and drive down salaries and increase prices.
But McQuaid says this bad news is unnecessary. “Personally, I believe there are very few genuinely bad bosses, but rather an abundance of bosses who are bad at their job,” she explains. “The good news is that there are proven assessment and training methods to improve the well being and performance of bosses and those who work for them, and we must make training them a priority.”
This year on National Boss Day we may have the opportunity to not only thank our good bosses, but to take steps to make all bosses better. If you’re willing to join in, I encourage you to sign McQuaid’s petition at www.tellyourboss.com and help America to build the best bosses we can.
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