# A Potent Mixture By:: [[Ross Jackson]] 2024-04-12 People and managers are different. These differences include personality characteristics and the degree to which those characteristics are present. One might be nice, intelligent, industrious, generous, or diligent. There are any number of potential combinations. The mix of characteristics a manager contains can influence the quality of one’s work experience. A potent mixture of characteristics is when a manager is arrogant, negligent, and hypocritical. Dealing with such a manager is challenging. The challenge is even greater if the manager does not acknowledge these characteristics. If a manager is arrogant, negligent, and hypocritical, the manager might view oneself as intelligent, attentive, and integrous. Often, managers view themselves as the opposite of what they are. This can be frustrating for those below or above this individual. The frustrations for those below such a manager are well documented. Dealing with this person as one’s boss will be chaotic and irksome. Interestingly, it is similar for the person above the manager. The person above this type of manager will need to deal with a stream of failures in which the manager does not take responsibility but instead provides justifications as to why the failure is not a reflection of one’s abilities and the contextual aspects of the failure point to how successful the individual is. A common example of this is to be unable to fulfill an obligation due to being away on business travel. The person overseeing this manager has some options. One can decide not to care and spend as little time thinking about the situation as possible. One can choose to deal directly with the individual and address the concerns. This will likely be frustrating due to the individual’s arrogance. Lastly, one can determine that it is time for that manager to do something else elsewhere. None of the solutions are particularly pleasant. Arrogance, negligence, and hypocriticalness combine as a potent mixture of managerial characteristics. Dealing with such a manager is more frequent than one might hope. Dealing with the situations produced by such a manager is unpleasant for those below and above the individual. One will either deal with the situation directly or with all the cascading consequences of not dealing with the situation directly. Or, as so many do, one can ignore it and hope for the best. #### Related Items [[Management]] [[Problem Solving]] [[People]] [[Hypocrisy]] [[Arrogance]] [[Personality]] [[Failure]]