How do you make sure that your potential new boss isn’t a corporate psycho?

I’d like to say this is hypothetical, but I’d be lying. I consider myself to be a fairly astute judge of character. Yet over the years I have misread the tea-leaves a few times, and have found myself working for someone who is definitely a few ‘roos short in the top paddock.

To state the bleeding obvious: I am not a doctor, and am in no way qualified to make any actual clinical diagnoses. That doesn’t stop me from being judgy AF. I’m talking about workplace behaviours demonstrated by people in positions of authority that are outright harmful to psychological safety.

Put simply, corporate psychos get paid (more than) enough to know better, and do better.

How to spot the corporate psycho

Setting aside the obvious questions: How did this person ever get promoted to this level? Did they blackmail the CEO to get the job? How many good people need to resign before the CEO puts their hand down their pants and finds the balls to move this person on?

The more important question is: how do I detect this early and dodge the bullet?

I’ll say this: it’s not easy. This person, let’s call them Diazepamela, is going to perform well when they interview you. They will be charming, funny, witty, passionate, and will really sell the opportunity. Diazepamela is a succubus; seducing you with flexible work arrangements, great team culture, and excellent learning and development opportunities.

But not long after you arrive, the 3am Slack messages begin, the speaking badly about everyone, the taking credit and assigning blame, the blank-faced denial that they ever agreed to a thing they agreed to last week, the tears, the vacillation between praise and criticism, the creation of favourites and scapegoats, and the general need for 24/7 chaos.

And if you’re really lucky, your Diazepamela will lock the staff kitchen door for three days because someone left crumbs on the bench. They'll send a tear-stained 3am all-hands email explaining that “we don’t deserve nice things”. Yes, that really happened. And yes, this person is still in the workforce in a senior position with a company you’ve definitely heard of.

One Diazepamela took me to lunch, because they liked to see whether people had good “restaurant manners” before they hired them. In hindsight, the way they treated the waitstaff should have had me walking out the door (after leaving my knife and fork correctly on the plate, of course).

And then there is the Diazepamela General Manager who mistook a work function for an episode of Love Island. Say no more.

Working for a corporate psycho can have a profound and lasting impact on your physical and mental health.

Survival tips:

• Know your worth.

• No job is worth making yourself sick for.

• Don’t hang around waiting for them to leave, hoping the CEO will finally notice, or convincing yourself things will improve.

• GET OUT.
  

How to interview a potential boss

So how do you work out whether your potential new boss is a psycho?

Here is a practical checklist for your next job interview.

1. Look at their employment history. If they are jumping from company to company every two years, that deserves investigation.

2. Stalk them on LinkedIn. Is there anyone in your network who can give you an informal reference? What articles do they like, comment on, and share? Do they seem thoughtful and generous, or are they permanently performing “leadership” at people?

3. If they are new to the industry or stepping into this type of role for the first time, that’s not necessarily a red flag. But listen for humility. New + curious can be excellent. New + absolutely certain they already know everything is considerably less promising.

4. Ask them what characteristics or behaviours they value most in their direct reports. Red flags are things like loyalty, being available 24/7, doing “whatever it takes” or going “above and beyond”, or anything that sounds like “never challenge me”.

5. Ask them to describe the best team they've ever led. Listen carefully. Do they talk about their people, or just themselves?

6. Ask them why the role is vacant. If the answer involves everyone else being incompetent, difficult, ungrateful, disloyal, lazy, or "not the right fit", run.

7. Ask them what they learned from their last leadership mistake. If they can't think of one, congratulations, you've found Diazepamela.

8. Ask how they handle disagreement from their team. You're looking for curiosity and healthy debate, not public executions.

9. Ask what they do when someone brings them bad news. If their answer sounds even remotely like "I expect people to come to me with solutions, not problems", prepare to spend the next three years hiding problems from them.

10. Look at the tenure of the people around them. If every direct report appears to have started within the last twelve months, there may be a reason.

11. Also, watch how they talk about their current team. If they casually bitch about staff in front of a stranger, imagine what they will say about you.

12. Ask to meet a couple of the people who report to them. Watch their body language and notice the emotional weather. Are they relaxed, or do they look like hostages reading from a script? Do other people visibly tense up around them? Does an assistant seem frightened of interrupting? Does the room change when they walk in?

13. Pay attention to how they treat the receptionist, recruiter, EA, and anyone else from whom they have nothing to gain. That's usually the real person.

14. Ask what success looks like in the first six months. If the answer sounds suspiciously like the workload of three full-time employees, you're not being hired. You're being harvested.

15. Do not explain away the thing that bothers you. This is the big one. If you leave the interview thinking, “That was a bit strange, but they were probably just tired”, write down exactly what felt strange. Future You may wish to slap Interview You. If something feels off, it usually is. Not always. But usually.

I know this is a long list. I also know it’s not exhaustive. I’d love to hear your anti-Diazepamela strategies, or commiserate with you over your worst Diazepamela experiences. Do share, but remember not to doxx anyone, even though they will definitely deserve it.

The key takeaway is this: you are interviewing them just as much as they are interviewing you. If you encounter resistance to reasonable questions during the interview process, you've already learned something important.

After all, that's Diazepamela on their best behaviour.