Issue link: https://read.uberflip.com/i/482029
32 / MARCH.APRIL.2015 RINKMAGAZINE.COM T here are 12 types of bosses, each with a different management style. Here's a field guide to help identify which type of boss you have and how to get the most out of your working experience: 1 The Visionary Visionaries are more concerned with the future than with what's going on here and now. They manage by creating (or trying to create) a reality-distortion field that makes a team believe they can accomplish the impossible. While visionaries can be fun to work for, they can also be intolerant, overly critical, and sometimes throw tantrums when they don't get their way. If you're working for a visionary, drink the Kool-Aid, work the long hours, and learn to repeat this mantra: "This product will change the world." 2 The Climber Climbers are interested in you only insofar as you can help or hinder their ascent to the corner office. They spend most of their time and effort figuring out how to win status, claim credit, and build alliances. Because they're obsessed with their own career, they see you (and everyone else) only as either a help or a hindrance to achieving their personal goals. If you're working for a climber, become the person who "has his back" when his fellow climbers try to stab it. 3 The Bureaucrat Bureaucrats want everything run by the book. They are resistant to change because they see their current situ- ation as the best of all possible worlds. Bureaucrats thrive inside "large enter- prises" but falter in smaller firms because the lack of a crowd makes it too obvious that they really aren't doing all that much. If you're working for a bureaucrat, document everything you do and limit your activities to what's been done in the past. Warning: bureaucrats can grind your creativity into dust. 4 The Propellerhead When engineers get into the management chain, they bring a technology-oriented worldview with them. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but it does mean you'll be judged almost entirely on your technical competence. The propellerhead boss prefers employees who are experts in some tech- nical field — the more obscure the better. They consider all nontechnical types (like MBA holders) equally stupid and useless. If you're working for a propellerhead, become fluent in nerdy pop culture refer- ences. If possible, illustrate business points by quoting lines from specific Star Trek episodes. 5 The Fogey Fogeys have been around since the days when "secretaries" (whoever they were) used "typewriters" (whatever they were). They're wise in the ways of the world but clueless about what's actually going on. Fogeys who are close to retirement are often quite jovial and easy-going; those who must continue to work because they can't afford to retire can be meaner than dyspeptic weasels. If you're working for a fogey, don't assume that every duffer is a doofus. Reassure your boss that he's still relevant and then recruit him as a mentor. 6 The Whippersnapper The flip side of the fogey is the barely-out-of-college go-getter PHOTOS: BIGSTOCKPHOTO.COM by GEOFFREY JAMES And How to Deal with Them 12 OF BOSSES TYPES The