Lessons from the Worst Managers and the Best

Robert Goodell is an executive coach who helps companies and individuals make the most of their human potential. During his more than 25 years in the field, he has found that about 20 percent of managers are very good, another 20 percent are very bad, and the rest fall in between. He recently asked a group of managers to describe their best and worst bosses. Goodell distilled their responses in a recent series of articles issued by WJM Associates, a New York-based executive leadership organization whose faculty he serves on. Here is some of what Goodell reported: