Both of my friends wound up leaving their companies after a lot of unhappiness. They both endured unnecessary pain, and their companies lost excellent employees. Why did this happen? I believe the culprit is boss-itis.

Boss-itis is a disease that usually hits someone about the time of his or her first promotion. Such a person morphs with astonishing speed from a confident, happy worker bee into a royal pain. When I got my first supervisory job at a small newspaper, there were several reporters under me who worked at bureaus in nearby cities. I proved my mettle, or so I thought, in my first few weeks — by ripping apart these reporters' stories, editing them into oblivion, and making disparaging comments about their so-called professors back in journalism school. I felt literate and powerful. The fear that someone was going to discover the big mistake they'd made in promoting me seemed to disappear when I was shredding other people's work.

I lashed out to convince myself that I was worthy of my paycheck.

That is, until I met some of these reporters in person. They were nice, competent, diligent — and they knew a lot more about the subjects they covered than I did. Did their writing need some improvement? Yes. But they were eager for help, and when offered guidance instead of venom, they put my suggestions to use. There was no need for me to disparage anyone in order to get better stories in the paper. I only lashed out to stroke my ego, impress my boss, and convince myself that I really was worthy of my paycheck.

Of course, it's not easy being a boss. Your friends who aren't bosses don't invite you to lunch anymore. You don't know what the buzz is now that you're "one of them" — and usually you're convinced the buzz is about you! You're under pressure for results, but you can't improve things without keeping the workforce under pressure. Your decisions directly affect others, so the rank and file can no longer comfortably be your pals. I'll never forget the forlorn look on my supervisor's face when she said how much she missed going out with her co-workers at the end of the day for a beer, a sandwich, and some good gossip.

If a transfer doesn't work, you may have to hit the road.

Nevertheless, boss-itis needn't be inevitable. Some people avoid it altogether; others recover quickly. Those that don't become fodder for columns. And tough should not be a synonym for unreasonable — most of us have had a supervisor, teacher, or coach who was diligent and demanding — but also fair and inspiring. They made you work hard, pushed you to do better than your best, and "pshawed" your excuses. They were confident in themselves and they believed in you. That combination is the opposite of, and the antidote for, boss-itis.

What do you do if your boss has a bad case of the disease? There are different treatments. The best is to find someone above your boss who can straighten things out. That doesn't always work, however. My friend Mary didn't dare complain; her boss's boss said publicly that he would back his hand-picked person in any controversy with a subordinate. Sometimes you can sidle out with a transfer. Unfortunately, too often you just have to hit the road. Mary and her broken ankle toughed it out — she soldiered on for a year and kept her mouth shut. At last she found a better job at another company, and she took it. But she didn't leave in the manner she'd been treated: she gave two weeks notice and even worked a Saturday before she left. No need to ruin her good record — and reputation — by sinking to her boss's level.

Companies should add it to their disease prevention programs.

John also left, on a company buy-out plan. Now he's happily up to his eyeballs in work at another firm. When he has an idea, his colleagues listen. They've marveled at his great suggestions. "No one shoots me down like they did before," he says. "It's really nice." He's happy, and his employer is getting the work she needs.

It's easy to point fingers at bad bosses, but harder to find solutions to the problem. Maybe recognizing that few of us are immune from boss-itis is the place to start. Companies could add classes on it to their disease prevention programs. Perhaps most importantly, all of us who weren't born bosses should remember our roots.

Catherine Hedgecock is a freelance writer and editor in Berkeley, California. She has written for USA Today, Knight Ridder newspapers, GNN, and other publications. She has won first place investigative reporting awards from California Newspaper Publishers Association, Gannett newspapers, and Best of the West. Ms. Hedgecock is currently writing a mystery novel.

© 1996 Catherine Hedgecock, All Rights Reserved
Illustration by Federico Jordan