Another good way to neutralize horrible bosses is to focus on the mission and help others around you

succeed. A manager I’ll call Pierre was sent by his company to lead a turnaround, as COO, of a low-
performing subsidiary in a developing country. The country CEO was imperialistic and antagonistic. He
gave Pierre a basement office with no staff and proceeded to ignore him. Pierre’s corporate bosses told
him to work it out. After a few days of feeling depressed, Pierre decided to move into the tiny office next
to the CEO and find his own assistant from outside the company, someone with no history with or
allegiance to the CEO.