I borrowed this book from the library yesterday and have had to stop reading it. Not because it’s inaccurate or useless — quite the opposite, in fact. It rings so many bells and pushes so many buttons that if I read any further I shall be a nervous wreck.

This books seems to have everything in the catalogue of bad bosses:

Deciding not to give you the promotion you were promised, despite your having met all the agreed criteria and more: check;
Expecting you to go over and above your duties on top of the over-and-aboveness you’re already doing: check;
Shouting at you in public: check.

Askins tells you what red flags and green flags to look for in a job, beginning with the recruitment process itself. His ultimate advice is to leave, which is not always easy of course.

The two good things that came out of my time working for moronic bosses was that I toughened up and became a lot more assertive, and the fact that I was able to use my experiences to do my utmost to ensure that when I was in charge of a computing department I treated my staff with consideration and respect.

I should recommend this book to teachers, especially new teachers, even thoughh it is not specifically about education. But then it doesn’t need to be, because moronic bosses are to be found in every field!

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