Meryl Streep and other cast members at Venice Film Festival for Devil Wears Prada[/caption]Marsha Hunt---A new poll just out gives insight into what both British and American workers want from their leaders. These are some of the insights the poll revealed.
The poll was sponsored by a learning content specialist Video Arts. This group asked employees to vote for the worst bosses shown in films or on television. Britain’s boss from hell is David Brent from the Office who has been portrayed by Ricky Gervais. Americans picked Miranda Priestley from The Devil Wears Prada, where Meryl Streep played that toxic boss.
The poll also asked respondents whether a boss should manage by striving to have employees love or fear him/her. Americans chose fear as the characteristic style as a better one for a boss, and the British selected love.
British defined the worst possible boss as one who is insecure and desperate to be popular while in the US the worst boss is an icy and dismissive individual who always believe in being right and psychologically abuses workers.
Martin Addiston said, “Machiavelli claimed that it is desirable to be both loved and feared as a leader but he acknowledged that this is difficult to achieve. He concluded that it’s safer to be feared than to be loved. Above all, he said, a leader should strive to avoid being hated. This is where David Brent and Miranda Priestley fail, as both are despised by their teams. Having a miserable workplace may be entertaining on film or TV but in reality it is never a good thing. There’s a lesson in that for every boss.”
While this poll examined what makes a bad boss, Jim Collins spent years studying what makes a great one. He has determined, according to the Harvard Review, the “ key ingredient that allows a company to become great is having a Level 5 leader: an executive in whom genuine personal humility blends with intense professional will.”
