Business
Flowchart: Are You Working for a Toxic Boss?
Flowchart: Are You Working for a Toxic Boss?
The experience of less-than-ideal work situations are common, and the global pandemic has likely heightened challenges for bosses and employees alike. How can mediocre or outright hostile leadership impact your ability to work well?
This flowchart from Resume.io helps you figure out if you’ve got a toxic boss weighing you down. It covers seven archetypes of toxic bosses, and how to respond to each one.
The 7 Types of Toxic Bosses
Barbara Kellerman, a professor of public leadership at the Harvard Kennedy School identifies seven types of toxic bosses that can exist.
| Number | Toxic Boss Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| #1 | Incompetent Boss | Unable or unwilling to do their job well |
| #2 | Rigid Boss | Confuses inflexibility with strength |
| #3 | Intemperate Boss | Lacks self-knowledge and self-control |
| #4 | Callous Boss | Lacks empathy and kindness |
| #5 | Corrupt Boss | Steals or cheats to promote their own interests |
| #6 | Insular Boss | Is cliquish or unreachable |
| #7 | Evil Boss | Causes pain to further their sense of power and dominance |
Some bosses simply don’t have the capacity to do their jobs, which makes it more difficult for their employees. Others can be corrupt or callous, creating a highly unmotivating work environment.
But how many people are in this situation?
To give a few quick examples, around 13% of all employees in Europe work under a toxic boss. In the U.S., a whopping 75% say they have left a job primarily because of a bad boss.
What’s so Bad about a Bad Boss?
Bosses can make or break your job experience. Having a toxic boss can cause your quality of work to suffer, which can then trickle down to impact your overall career.
In fact, Harvard Business Review found that a toxic work environment can lead to decreased motivation and employee disengagement. This has significant knock-on effects such as:
- 37% higher absenteeism
- 60% more errors in their work
- 18% lower productivity
According to the same study, this can cause companies to have 16% lower profitability and a 65% lower share price over time.
The physical side effects are not to be underestimated, either. One Swedish study found that a bad boss who increases your job strain can, in tandem, increase your chance of cardiac arrest by 50%. Additionally, a study out of Stanford found that mismanagement in the American workplace and subsequent stress could potentially be responsible for 120,000 deaths per year.
Tips to Deal with a Toxic Boss
Bad bosses can hurt the company, the overall work environment, and can impact your professional growth and personal health.
So, what can you do about it?
| Number | Toxic Boss Type | Solution |
|---|---|---|
| #1 | Incompetent Boss | Use initiative |
| #2 | Rigid Boss | Use the power of persuasion |
| #3 | Intemperate Boss | Look for opportunities |
| #4 | Callous Boss | Ask for a 1-on-1 meeting |
| #5 | Corrupt Boss | Find co-workers who share your concerns |
| #6 | Insular Boss | Offer them opportunities to open up |
| #7 | Evil Boss | Take a stand |
Different kinds of bosses require different approaches, and some simply aren’t worth putting up with. For instance, taking initiative with an incompetent boss is one relatively easy solution, but having a 1-on-1 with a callous boss takes more effort. An evil boss requires intervention from HR.
If you don’t have a toxic boss, consider yourself lucky. Here are two ways to keep your working relationship strong:
- Take initiative
- Keep up open communication
- Ask for constant feedback so you know where you stand
- Under-promise and over-deliver
What Can Bosses Do?
Toxic bosses can have disastrous consequences on employees and companies. According to one Gallup survey, at minimum, 75% of the reasons for voluntary turnover can be influenced by managers.
After looking at some of the ways employees can address toxic bosses, how can bosses ensure their work environment is healthy? Harvard Business Review recommends four main things:
- Encourage social connections
- Show empathy
- Go out of your way to help
- Encourage employees to talk to you—especially about their problems
The future of work may be changing, with remote work becoming more popular and feasible. This can pose problems in creating a strong work culture.
However, if bosses and employees can work together to foster a positive and healthy work environment, everyone, including the bottom line, will benefit.
Technology
iPhone Now Makes Up the Majority of U.S. Smartphones
Apple’s flagship device has captured a modest 16% of the global market, and Android dominates globally. Why do so many Americans keep buying iPhones?
iPhone Now Makes Up the Majority of U.S. Smartphones
One of the most iconic tech moments of the 21st century is Steve Jobs, in his signature black turtleneck, holding up a small device: the iPhone. Since that introduction at the 2007 Macworld conference in San Francisco, iPhone has gone on to become a global phenomenon, with over 1.2 billion units now sold around the world.
Today, the smartphone market is a fiercely competitive space.
On a global scale, iPhone has carved out a respectable 16% of the smartphone market. In the U.S., however, the iPhone has managed to win the hearts and minds of more consumers. New data from Counterpoint Research via FT notes that iPhones now make up 50% of the overall installed user base* in the United States.
With a plethora of smartphone brands available to American consumers—and many at lower price points—what is it that makes this brand so popular?
iPhone: The Apple of America’s Eye
Experts point to a number of reasons why Apple’s flagship device outperforms in the U.S. compared to other markets.
- Apple has the highest brand loyalty of any major smartphone maker. 9 in 10 U.S. iPhone users plan to purchase an iPhone as their next device.
- iPhones appear to depreciate at a slower rate than other devices
- Broadly speaking, consumers in the U.S. have less price sensitivity than consumers in many other countries.
- Apple has been vocal in their messaging about protecting user privacy and data, and that message appears to be resonating with consumers.
This last point is worth digging into in more detail.
Winning the Privacy War
Personal data protection and cybersecurity have become mainstream concerns in recent years, and Apple has made security a priority.
Of course, security breaches can and do occur, regardless of what device is being used. That said, a recent survey by Beyond Identity indicates that iPhone users were less likely to be victims of security breaches, and were more likely to recover data in the event of a breach.
The survey also points out that iPhone users were less likely to have sensitive data, such as images and videos, credit card information, passwords, and personal data compromised when breaches occurred.
These findings aside, Apple has also been bullish on branding its devices as safe and secure. The “Privacy. That’s iPhone.” campaign launched in 2019, and most recently, Apple has put the data broker industry in its crosshairs through a new series of ad spots.
Simply put: whether or not iPhone is more secure than other devices, Apple has used its marketing muscle to sway public opinion at a time when Americans are focused on privacy. And based on these latest installed user base numbers, that strategy appears to be paying off.
Misc
The Most Searched Consumer Brands in 2022
From Netflix to IKEA, this map of the world highlights the most searched for consumer brands around the world.
Creator Program
The Most Searched Consumer Brands in 2022
View the high resolution of this infographic by clicking here.
In today’s fast-paced world, a strong brand is a powerful asset that helps a business stand out in a sea of competition.
What are some of the most popular brands around the world? One way to gauge this is by looking at Google searches to see what consumers are searching for online (and therefore, what brands they’re paying the most attention to).
This graphic by BusinessFinancing.co.uk uses data from Google Keyword Planner to show the world’s most searched consumer brands in the twelve months leading up to March 2022.
Methodology
To source this wide of a dataset, the team at BusinessFinancing.co.uk first compiled a list of well-known brands, using a number of reputable sources including Forbes, the Financial Times, BrandDirectory, and more.
From there, the team created a shortlist of popular consumer brands. This year, they focused on businesses that sell products and services, so some of the big tech companies like Google and Meta were excluded from the 2022 ranking.
Next, the team used Google Ads API to extract search volume data for the shortlisted brands. They looked at a couple of things:
- The monthly average of searches over the last 12 months for the brand name alone (e.g. “Nike”)
- Brand name with the corresponding sector added to the keyword (“Nike clothing”), which helped offset the skew in search volume for generic terms like “Apple” or “Amazon”
They did this for every country in the world with data available. Here’s what they found.
The Top 5 Most Searched Brands
While Netflix is the most frequently searched brand in the highest number of countries (92), Amazon takes the top spot when it comes to total search volume.
Here’s a look at the top five most search brands by average global monthly searches:
| Brand | Average global monthly searches (March 2022) | # Countries Most-Searched In |
|---|---|---|
| Amazon | 335,400,000 | 42 |
| Netflix | 140,200,000 | 92 |
| eBay | 80,600,000 | 6 |
| Walmart | 76,100,000 | 2 |
| IKEA | 55,300,000 | 14 |
But a brand’s search popularity doesn’t necessarily reflect that the business is thriving. For instance, in April 2022, Netflix announced it had lost around 200,000 subscribers throughout Q1.
The week of the announcement, Netflix’s stock price dipped below $200—the lowest it had been since 2017.
Smartphones
Apple and its iPhone take the top spot when it comes to smartphone searches, which may be unsurprisingly considering the top five best-selling smartphones in 2021 were all iPhones.
View the high resolution of this infographic by clicking here.
It’s worth noting that the top five best-selling smartphones only capture a fraction of the overall smartphone market, and while iPhones are undeniably popular, they only make up 16.7% of worldwide smartphone sales.
Gaming
Epic Games, the creator and platform of Fortnite, maintains its status as the most searched-for gaming brand worldwide, with an average of 14.9 million global monthly searches.
View the high resolution of this infographic by clicking here.
No other gaming company came close to Epic Game’s search volume. For instance, Nintendo, which came in second place, only averaged 3.2 million searches a month.
However, Nintendo still managed to generate more than $16 billion in revenue throughout 2021, triple the gross revenue that Epic Games made the same year.
Fast Food
KFC was the most searched fast-food company in more than 83 countries, making it the most popular worldwide.
View the high resolution of this infographic by clicking here.
However, it’s worth noting that, while McDonald’s ranked first in fewer countries, it had a higher global monthly search average than its fried chicken competitor.
In 2021, KFC generated approximately $2.79 billion in global revenue, while McDonald’s brought in $23.2 billion.
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