The Problem With Leading Through Fear

Peter Drucker is considered to be the founder of “modern management” and the inventor of the practice of “management through objectives and self-control.”

Everyone has had a horrible boss at some point.

If you’re one of the few who hasn’t, I wish I had your kind of luck, but odds are you know someone who does.

The kind of boss that yells and screams at the slightest inconvenience or slip up.

I remember in college I was working at a local farmers market over the summer. One time my boss got so upset at one of my coworkers that he pushed a cart of oranges over and they all rolled into the street. He then had us all run and pick up the oranges from the street. (Kinda felt like Frogger dodging all the cars.)

The thing is I can not remember what my coworker even did for the life of me, but I remember what my boss did. I decided not to work there again next summer.

Tearing people down constantly is a quick way to lose good people on your team or have them avoid you entirely.

On the flip side, my first boss after college at my first “real” job was the complete opposite. From day 1 he was focused on growing and developing his team to be the best that we could be.

Not only is he encouraging me to get certifications and use the company’s resources but we talk about growing outside of work as well.

Because he has always tried to build me up I’ve never been afraid to go to him if I didn’t hit a deadline or was facing an issue in my work. In those situations, his response is almost always focused on how do we move forward and improve.