What's Stopping You?: Why Smart People Don't Always Reach Their Potential, and How You Can

The Pisstaker’s Charter

This brings me to the most difficult of all boss-related situ­ations – dealing with someone trying to control or manipulate you, perhaps (in fact probably) leveraging off your insecurities in an attempt to steer the situation to their advantage. While aggressive or insulting bosses are often fellow High-FFs and therefore reasonably transparent in their aims, the manipulators have achievement motivation coursing through their veins and are far more difficult to read. They have also noticed your insecurities and are taking advantage.

I call this the Pisstaker’s Charter: the notion that confident people can so effectively take advantage of under-confident people that we end up doing their bidding for them – with them even ...