Manipulation Archives

Is My Boss Manipulating Me? 12 Signs To Look For

Workplace Experiences

Is My Boss Manipulating Me? Here Are 12 Signs Of A Manipulative Boss

Working in a toxic environment is what I consider a ‘silent killer’. Maybe you can relate to this. The effect settles in over time, not all at once. You start feeling less enthusiasm for your work. You start questioning you own abilities and skill. You take home a little more baggage with you each day. You’re working more to ‘keep up’. You feel worn out, tired, and Monday mornings are your worst enemy. You feel like you’re being drained of your life force one day at a time. Let’s get into the ways bosses manipulate employees, and what to do about them!

Pat Finnegan April 3, 2022

Career Planning

6 Project Management Lessons From Enron & Their Historic Collapse

I just finished watching “The Smartest Guys In The Room”. It’s a documentary about Enron, the once-revolutionary Texas energy trading company that famously collapsed in 2001. From the early 90’s right up to their downfall, Enron was a darling of Wall Street, ranking #7 on the Fortune 500 in the same year that news of its’ massive accounting fraud and unethical business practices swept the world. In the summer of 2000, Enron’s stock hit an all-time high of over $90 per share. In late 2001, Enron filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and is still known as one of the largest corporate scandals in American history. Not only was Enron a business titan on Wall Street, but they were also well-known on ‘Main Street’ too. Enron’s collapse led to nearly 30,000 lost jobs, thousands of evaporated retirement accounts and countless investors left with worthless stock. Enron was once a (mostly) legitimate energy company before it essentially became an energy stock market in the 90s. What the heck happened? The Enron story is complex yet simple at the same time, unpinned by human ego, greed, deceit and pride. As for the specifics of what happened, we’ll get into those too. Let’s discuss six project management lessons from Enron and their demise that came to me after watching the film.

Pat Finnegan April 22, 2021

Workplace Experiences

Surviving A Two-Faced Boss: A Few Tips From Experience

Most of us have worked for a bad boss at some point. Whether they’re mean, incompetent, selfish or manipulative, bad bosses all have one thing in common – the ability to drive their subordinates nuts. The vast majority of people just want to come to work, have a decent day and head home when it’s over. Unfortunately, the ‘vast majority’ still doesn’t mean everyone. Some people can’t help but to get involved in drama or negativity at work – even if they must start it themselves. Other people don’t crave drama per se, but their personality and mindset effects others anyways. That brings us to our main topic: dealing with a two-faced boss. Let’s talk about how they act and how to ‘survive’ working for one.

Pat Finnegan March 19, 2021

Workplace Experiences

Why Do Idiots Get Promoted? 7 Reasons To Consider

We all know at least one person at work who’s…….not great. They make mistake after mistake, act like jerks, gossip, bring negative energy and seem totally incapable of doing any job well, let alone a job in upper management. “They’re so stupid, a trained monkey could do a better job!”. Dumb managers and coworkers are so common that it’s a storyline repeated all over TV and movies. We can all relate to this regardless of industry and geographic location and in that, we at least have each other. But it does beg the question – how does this keep happening? Why do idiots get promoted? In this article, we’re talking about 7 common reasons why this is the case.

Pat Finnegan May 27, 2020

Project Manager Soft Skills

How To Deal With A Coworker You Don’t Trust: The Do’s & Don’ts

Trust is a vital aspect of any relationship. This applies to our family, friends, romantic partners and coworkers alike. Just like our family and romantic partners, we must see our coworkers for an extended amount of time every day. In most instances, we spend more waking hours with our coworkers while working full-time than we spend with our families – that’s a lot of time at work! When we have great coworkers who we can trust, this doesn’t feel nearly as harsh as it sounds. What happens when we just can’t trust coworkers? It could be something they’ve done, rumors we hear or just our gut feeling – regardless, a situation like this puts a tremendous strain on our work life. In this article, we’re talking about how to deal with a coworker you don’t trust!

Pat Finnegan December 19, 2019

Workplace Experiences

What Are The Signs Of A Toxic Work Environment? Our Top 10

Does a typical workday feel like torture? Do you feel like your soul is being taken from you one day at a time? Melodramatics aside, a bad workplace environment can make our lives miserable. According to this article from Business Insider, Americans spend 90,000 hours at work over a lifetime and nearly 80% are dissatisfied with their jobs. If you’re working in a bad environment for a large portion of your career, it will have a negative impact on quality of life, happiness and stress levels. That’s no way to live! So what are the signs of a toxic work environment? In this article, we’ll talk about 10 things to watch out for.

Pat Finnegan September 19, 2019

It's a jungle out there. A concrete jungle, that is. While humans have evolved way past all other animals in a cognitive sense, we still need to navigate many of the situations that animals encounter in the wild. While many animals are categorized as predators or prey, people can also act in a predatory fashion and see other people as their 'prey'. Except in the human world, the predatory person doesn't eat their prey - they try to manipulate or take advantage of them instead. Predatory people don't see EVERYONE as prey though - they instinctively pick people they think they can exploit for their own gain. Overly nice people are one of the main groups people try and exploit, for reasons we'll discuss. Nice people aren't off the hook, though. Many times, they're not taken advantage of by just predators, but by everyone - and they ask for it! The workplace is one of the main places nice people get taken advantage of, and it affects workload, promotions, salary, reputation and more. In this article, we will discuss how to stop being too nice at work using twelve simple techniques.

Project Manager Soft Skills

How To Stop Being Too Nice At Work: 12 Simple, Quick Techniques

It’s a jungle out there. A concrete jungle, that is. While humans have evolved way past all other animals in a cognitive sense, we still need to navigate many of the situations that animals encounter in the wild. While many animals are categorized as predators or prey, people can also act in a predatory fashion and see other people as their ‘prey’. Except in the human world, the predatory person doesn’t eat their prey – they try to manipulate or take advantage of them instead. Predatory people don’t see EVERYONE as prey though – they instinctively pick people they think they can exploit for their own gain. Overly nice people are one of the main groups people try and exploit, for reasons we’ll discuss. Nice people aren’t off the hook, though. Many times, they’re not taken advantage of by just predators, but by everyone – and they ask for it! The workplace is one of the main places nice people get taken advantage of, and it affects workload, promotions, salary, reputation and more. In this article, we will discuss how to stop being too nice at work using twelve simple techniques.

Pat Finnegan August 29, 2019

CATEGORY | Manipulation

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Is My Boss Manipulating Me? Here Are 12 Signs Of A Manipulative Boss

6 Project Management Lessons From Enron & Their Historic Collapse

Surviving A Two-Faced Boss: A Few Tips From Experience

Why Do Idiots Get Promoted? 7 Reasons To Consider

How To Deal With A Coworker You Don’t Trust: The Do’s & Don’ts

What Are The Signs Of A Toxic Work Environment? Our Top 10

How To Stop Being Too Nice At Work: 12 Simple, Quick Techniques

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