Google “bad bosses,” and most of what pops up are survival guides for employees—like how to “survive a bad boss,” as if bad leadership is just another natural disaster we need to ride out. We shouldn’t have to survive our day jobs. Leaders shouldn’t be someone we brace for every morning. A boss should bring out your best—not send your stress levels through the roof.
But here’s the paradox: Reforming bad bosses is tough, because they usually don’t know they’re the problem. If they think they’re doing great while their team is quietly crumbling, how can we expect them to change?
Why it’s hard to change a bad boss
A theory called the Dunning-Kruger effect can help explain why it’s so hard to change a bad boss. The Dunning-Kruger effect is a cognitive blind spot where people with low ability overestimate their competence. The theory has its critics, but three decades of qualitative data and observations in hundreds of organizations back this up: The worst bosses often believe they’re crushing it, while employees are silently unraveling. It’s not usually out of malice; it’s a lack of self-awareness. Honest feedback gets lost in the shuffle because people are too afraid to say what’s really on their minds. Instead, they tell their boss what they think will keep them in their good graces—or out of their crosshairs—which only reinforces the boss’s belief that they’re a rockstar leader.
The impact of power
Ed Catmull, the former President and co-founder of Pixar often said, “The higher up you go, the more distorted the truth.” Megan Reitz’s research on speaking truth to power backs this up with something called advantage blindness—a phenomenon where people in power become oblivious to how their status intimidates others. When you’re at the top, you stop noticing the subtle ways people treat you differently. You don’t see how your words weigh more, or how your presence alone makes people hesitate to push back or offer real feedback.
Then there’s the disinhibiting effect of power. Studies from Dacher Keltner show that power can flip a switch in people, lowering their empathy and making them act more selfishly. This isn’t about people suddenly becoming villains—it’s more like power brings out a version of themselves that isn’t held back by social filters. Keltner’s research adds that if you marinate in power long enough, those disinhibiting effects can become permanent, eroding empathy over time.
Bad leadership isn’t always intentional—it’s often about blind spots and unchecked power. The question is, how do we start holding up the mirror and breaking the cycle? Because the only way to reform bad bosses is to help them see what they’ve been missing.
Check your assumptions with this Quiz
Even if you think you’re doing great, here are a few ways to check your assumptions:
- Do you know what your direct reports are struggling with?
- What lights a fire under your team—do you know what really motivates them?
- When’s the last time someone went toe-to-toe with you on something you feel strongly about?
- What do your people wish you’d stop—or start—doing?
- Make a list of the people at work who you mentor, lean on for advice, or trust with your secrets. Is this group of people diverse in terms of age, tenure, ethnicity, gender, function?
- When’s the last time you admitted to your team that you made a mistake?
If you answered “no” or “I don’t know or don’t recall” to any of these, it’s a clear sign that there’s room for improvement—and that’s where real leadership begins.
Action you can take
Get to know your team
Take the time to truly understand your team. Good leadership isn’t some cookie-cutter approach; it’s personal. It’s about digging deep to find out what your people care about and what challenges they’re facing. So, roll up your sleeves and get to know them—because when you invest in your team as individuals, you’re setting the stage for genuine connection and collaboration.
Invite disagreement
If no one is pushing back, that’s not leadership. That’s a red flag. You’re either fostering fear or groupthink. Innovation thrives on disagreement, so encourage it—let people feel safe to challenge you. [examples]
Get (real) feedback Assessing your own leadership effectiveness is harder than it seems. The higher you climb, the more filtered your feedback becomes. Leaders need to recognize that the more authority they have, the more likely people are distorting their perception of the truth. Those at the top are often insulated from real feedback, making it difficult to gauge whether they’re truly effective or simply surrounded by an echo chamber. It’s easy to surround yourself with people who agree with you—it feels good! But real growth happens when you step out of that comfort zone. Build a challenge network instead—a group of people who will give you real, honest feedback, even when it stings.
Get out of your echo chamber Bad bosses naturally favor people who look, think, and act like them. What’s the result? An echo chamber of agreement and reassurance. This isn’t just detrimental to diversity and inclusion; it’s a recipe for stagnation. When no one around you challenges your ideas, you start to believe you’re always right. When your view of reality is distorted, your competence takes a hit. You can’t make sound decisions when you’re surrounded by yes-people, and that’s how the cycle of bad leadership keeps churning, unchecked.
Admit Mistakes
Owning your mistakes doesn’t make you weak—it makes you credible. In fact, sharing your missteps builds psychological safety within your team, creating an environment where others feel comfortable doing the same. Research shows that leaders who admit when they’re wrong are seen as more competent. You can’t grow if you can’t face where you’ve slipped up, and fostering an open dialogue about errors encourages learning and improvement for everyone involved.
We can’t eradicate bad bosses entirely, but we can mitigate the damage by raising awareness of the science behind it. Bad bosses aren’t just an organizational nuisance—they’re a public health problem. The human toll is too great to ignore, and the bottom-line impact is too costly to dismiss.