The Devil Emails at Midnight

Conclusion

I have always said that every bad boss I experienced made me stronger. Surviving bad bosses like the Devil, the Sheriff, the Napper, the Chopper, the White Rabbit, Medusa, the Great Pretender, the Grinner, the Cheerleader, Gossip Girl, Spotlight, and Tony has made me be a better leader and a better person. When I couldn't show up for my team when I was grieving, it was an incredibly humbling moment to recognize that small and big life‐altering events can unexpectedly send us spiraling into bad boss territory.

Every bad boss behavior I encountered continues to serve as a reminder on how not to lead in the workplace. But it doesn't have to be that way.

I wrote this book because so much of what's available in the marketplace when it comes to bad bosses focuses on how to survive, outwit, make it through, endure, outlast, withstand, and navigate working for a bad boss. Because it's easier to excuse, dismiss, minimize, overlook, or flat out deny bad boss behavior. It's easier to tell everyone else, the individuals usually with less power or authority in our organizations, to grin and bear the bad boss and provide them with a laundry list of ways to survive this moment in their careers. But the real work, the hard work, the meaningful work is when each of us looks in the mirror and realizes that the bad boss isn't some Disney or Marvel villain. That at any given point in time in our careers, each and every one of us has the potential and can become the Devil who emails ...