Why Your Boss Doesn’t Realize They’re an Asshole

Here’s part of the chapter “Our Greatest Strengths Are Our Greatest Weaknesses” by Gordon Livingston in the criminally under-read Too Late Smart, Too Soon Old:

There are certain personality characteristics that are highly correlated with academic and professional success: dedication to work, attention to detail, ability to manage time, conscientiousness. People who have this constellation of traits are generally excellent students and productive workers. They can also be difficult to live with. Think about it; those who demand much of themselves frequently have high standards of performance for those around them. In a work situation, this is usually an adaptive approach…

It is often puzzling to such people that approaches that make them successful in their work are so poorly received by those they live with. Practically any human characteristic — competitiveness, orderliness, even kindness — when indulged to an extreme can produce undesirable results. Perhaps this is just another argument for moderation in all things. But we need to acknowledge that those qualities of which we are most proud can prove our undoing.”

Fact: the most outwardly successful people I’ve known are also the least well-liked — even unlikeable — people I’ve ever known. It’s actually pretty easy to have a fancy-sounding title while remaining completely ignorant of being a widely disliked person. Let’s call them USP: Unliked Successful People.