Northborough, MA, February 12, 2008 - “There are many important lessons that business managers discover on the job, outside of any formal educational setting. One of the biggest of these, if I can be blunt, is dealing with asshole bosses, co-workers, and subordinates, says John P. Kreiss, President and CEO of MorganSullivan, an Executive Search firm serving the Real Estate and Construction industries.

Kreiss says that these toxic turkeys, through rude, narcissistic, bullying behavior, wreak havoc on staff morale. “They not only make life miserable for others in the company, they also negatively impact the bottom line—even if they are productive employees. That’s why managers should try to root them out, or at least contain them, if they infiltrate the organization, and avoid hiring these jerks in the first place,” says Kreiss.

Asshole behavior can be made manifest in many ways including:

• Constant negativity towards the suggestions and initiatives of others.
• Shouting at and belittling subordinates.
• Sabotaging of new policies and programs.
• Arrogant attitude – everyone else is “incompetent.”

“These behaviors lead to high turnover, especially among the asshole’s subordinates and co-workers. In addition, people working for these jerks are more likely to call in sick, and even steal from the organization. One bad apple can indeed spoil the whole barrel,” says Kreiss.

“We get a lot of client requests to conduct searches to replace toxic people with low emotional intelligence,” says Kreiss. He recommends carefully checking references from subordinates when considering bringing on new executive talent and observing how they interact with staff members during the process. “Does the candidate respect people as a whole or only those who can help advance his/her agenda? It’s a lot less expensive to identify bad apples before they’re hired and before it’s too late.”

MorganSullivan is a strategic ally to its clients by way of its dedication solely to the Real Estate and Construction Industries. Its expertise is in identifying and recruiting top-notch technical and business development personnel to fill critical positions for its clients.

If you’d like to hear more on this topic, please contact John Rainone at 508-393-4933 extension 12 or John Kreiss at 312-265-5869.