I Believe… [Micromanagers]

…that the horror of the micromanager isn’t their behavior—it’s how ordinary it’s become.

…that every micromanager is a recruiter—for other companies.

…that when you buy into the Stockholm Syndrome of smiles and light praise one day and suddenly the derisive, condescending criticism over the most minute perception of error the next, the slide into misery and frustration is all but guaranteed.

…that the only winning approach to dealing with a manager who sees people as tools and takes every opportunity to explode over mistakes is to either check out and cease to give a shit or bolt.

…that until organizations realize that treating adults like wayward children destroys morale, creativity, and basic human joy, the micromanager will continue to loom—hovering, nitpicking, doubting, draining, controlling—like the world’s least charismatic supervillain.