"A "work jerk" isn't just someone who expects perfection. It's the high achiever whose nervous system runs at lava-like temperatures, who's chronically stressed, and demonstrates urgency as a personality trait. It looks like hair-trigger impatience, micromanaging, sharp feedback, and an automatic reflex to see others as obstacles rather than partners. Work jerk behaviors teach people at work to focus their energy on managing you and your reactions instead of doing good work."
"If you're a work jerk who is also a leader, the impact can be huge. Your tone and word choice signal "risk levels" to your team because you control performance evaluations, if they get promoted, project access, and sometimes even professional standing. Being the "leader work jerk" harms two things at once: Your mental health as a leader: because you're stuck in chronic activation mode"
A "work jerk" is a high achiever whose chronic stress and constant urgency produce hair-trigger impatience, micromanagement, sharp feedback, and a reflex to view others as obstacles. Such behaviors redirect team energy toward managing the leader's reactions instead of productive work. External causes like toxic culture or private stress can explain the behavior but do not justify mistreatment. Leader-driven abrasiveness undermines both leader mental health by maintaining chronic activation and team psychological safety by forcing self-protection. Short-term gains from a "crush it" approach often lead to burnout, turnover, and erosion of trust. Daily emotional self-management shifts can reduce these harms without lowering standards.
Read at Fast Company
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]