At Work with The Ready

What happens when your promotion puts you in charge of your former boss?

In this mini Ask Us Anything episode of At Work with The Ready, Rodney Evans and Sam Spurlin answer a listener’s question about one of the trickiest transitions a leader can face—managing the people who used to manage you.

They explore how to navigate power shifts, handle ego and shame dynamics, and reset team expectations without alienating anyone. Along the way, they share practical advice for rebuilding trust, holding clear boundaries, and making tough calls when improvement just isn’t happening.

Got a work question like this one you'd like us to answer? Email us at [email protected]

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Ready to change your organization? Let's talk: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.theready.com/working-together⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

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Sound engineering and design by Taylor Marvin of ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Coupe Studios⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

Every worker has a bad boss story—but why are they so common? In this two-part series, Rodney Evans and Sam Spurlin dig into the archetypes of dysfunctional leaders and the systems that keep them in power. Because bad bosses aren’t accidents—they’re often a predictable response to organizational pressures.

In Part 2, they take on the Ghost—the slippery, conflict-avoiding boss who’s always hard to find when decisions need to be made—and the Self-Promoter, the credit-stealing leader who thrives on claiming other people’s work as their own. From the frustration of canceled one-on-ones to the demoralization of stolen ideas, Rodney and Sam unpack why these archetypes persist, what drives their behavior, and how you can protect yourself (and your team) without burning out.

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Mentioned references:

00:00 Intro + Check-In: What is the phrase going on your tombstone?

03:37 Recap of part 1

04:46 Bad Boss 4: The Ghost

08:24 Dealing with The Ghost

10:52 Bad Boss 5: The Self-Promoter

11:49 Source of the credit-stealing behaviors

15:24 Dealing with The Self-Promoter

21:08 What all bad bosses have in common

23:26 Self-preservation is always a valid strategy

25:56 Wrap up: leave us a review and send us your bad boss stories!

Sound engineering and design by Taylor Marvin of ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Coupe Studios⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

We’re trying something new: mini Ask Us Anything episodes! Instead of waiting for our quarterly Q&A roundups, we’ll drop shorter conversations into your feed every other week where Rodney and Sam tackle one great listener question at a time.

This week’s question: How should OD and change consultants handle unfavorable peer feedback in 360 reviews—especially when it’s happening among the leaders just under the CEO?

They explore why peer feedback so often turns into power struggles, how incentive structures fuel a “Hunger Games” mentality, and why leaders must shift from interpersonal drama to organizational design.

Got a work question like this one you'd like us to answer? Email us at [email protected]

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Ready to change your organization? Let's talk: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.theready.com/working-together⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Get our newsletter: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Sign up here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

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Mentioned references:

Sound engineering and design by Taylor Marvin of ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Coupe Studios⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

Every worker has a bad boss story—but why are they so common? In this two-parter, Rodney Evans and Sam Spurlin dig into the archetypes of dysfunctional leaders and the systems that keep them in power. Because bad bosses aren’t accidents—they’re often a predictable response to organizational pressures.

In Part 1, they take on the Micromanager, the Rager, and the Martyr. From obsessive control and volcanic tempers to bosses who never log off, these archetypes reveal the deeper fears and systemic incentives driving destructive behavior. Along the way, Rodney and Sam share strategies for surviving each type, plus insights for executives who may be unknowingly creating the conditions for bad bosses to thrive.

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Ready to change your organization? Let's talk: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.theready.com/working-together⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Get our newsletter: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Sign up here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

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Mentioned references:

00:00 Intro + Check-In: Who’s your favorite bad boss from TV or movies?

02:38 The Pattern: Bad bosses are the product of the system that promoted them

04:30 Bad Boss 1: The Micromanager

06:52 Micromanagers stamp out innovation and emergent ideas

10:11 The source of micromanagement behavior

11:25 Dealing with The Micromanager

14:17 Bad Boss 2: The Rager

15:50 Rage is used to mask vulnerability

19:04 Dealing with The Rager

22:13 The source of ragers and the orgs that enable them

25:27 Bad Boss 3: The Martyr

30:24 Dealing with The Martyr

32:33 Being the boss to The Martyr

34:19 Time of The Martyr is ending

36:05 Wrap up: More bad bosses next time!

Sound engineering and design by Taylor Marvin of ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Coupe Studios⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

Producer Note: Hey there! We’re on vacation this week, but we didn’t want to leave your feed empty. Some of our most popular conversations this past year have been about the Midnight Zone and that’s why we’re sharing this fantastic episode from our friends over at Fixable. We hope it gives you some fresh strategies for navigating (and even embracing!) conflict in your organization, and we’ll see you next time.

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Most of us try to avoid conflict, particularly at work. But when done right, conflict can be a tool to strengthen interpersonal bonds and generate better results. In this episode, Anne and Frances team up with Amanda Ripley, global conflict journalist and author of the bestselling book High Conflict: Why We Get Trapped and How We Get Out. They tackle the missteps teams often make when it comes to handling conflict and provide actionable alternatives to foster healthy conflict habits in any organization.

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Guest: Amanda Ripley (Instagram: @ripleywriter | Website: amandaripley.com/)

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This episode originally aired on June 15, 2025.

Most of us think we know ourselves (and the people we work with) pretty well. But when tensions rise, deadlines loom, or feedback lands wrong, the truth comes out: we’re all running on a set of deep, often invisible patterns. What if we could see those patterns clearly, and choose something better? Enter the Enneagram: a framework that maps nine core motivations, survival strategies, and ways of seeing the world.

This week, Rodney sits down with Liz Orr, author of The Unfiltered Enneagram and the voice behind Rude Ass Enneagram, to explore how this tool can help us understand ourselves, our teammates, and the hidden drivers behind workplace friction. From recognizing your own “midnight zone” work to navigating type-to-type dynamics, Liz shares practical insights for breaking unhelpful patterns, building trust, and working more compassionately with others.

Learn more about Liz:

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Let's work together: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.theready.com/working-together⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

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Mentioned references:

00:00 Intro + Check-In: What would you be doing if it wasn’t this?

03:30 What is the Enneagram?

06:26 101 course on the Nine Types of the Enneagram

14:04 When your Type solidifies

15:15 Exploring Rodney’s Type as an example

20:44 How Types interact

23:19 Using the Enneagram to recognize and break your own patterns

26:54 Eights as leaders (CEOs, CFOs) tend to fight every battle

29:54 Debunking cultural gender stereotypes around the Enneagram

34:21 Understanding what we’re “getting” in return for our behavior

37:22 Navigating the cringe of self-compassion and forgiveness

44:59 Dealing with “therapy language performance” from friends and coworkers

48:03 The Enneagram’s role in the workplace

50:21 Overcoming the dismissal of “soft skills” and “soft power

52:50 Wrap up: Leave us a review and share the show with your coworkers!

Sound engineering and design by Taylor Marvin of ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Coupe Studios⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

In most companies, mergers and acquisitions (M&A) is treated like a finish line. But the truth is, signing the deal is just the start—and if you haven’t thought deeply about how two operating systems, cultures, and teams will actually work together, you’re already behind. The vast majority of M&A efforts fail to deliver long-term value, not because the deal was bad, but because the integration never really happened.

This week, Rodney and Sam unpack why M&A is so alluring, so broken, and so often misunderstood. From boardroom incentives and CEO ego to missing strategy and magical thinking, they dig into what really drives the endless appetite for acquisition—and why the actual design work of merging two organizations is almost always underfunded, under-led, or completely ignored.

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Let's work together: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.theready.com/working-together⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

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Mentioned references:

00:00 Intro + Check-In: What is something you’ve done recently that seemed like a good idea but has since proven otherwise?

04:01 The Pattern: Companies acquire others for growth, merge goes bad, so have to acquire another

09:54 Big visible activities with very unclear ROI

14:09 Buying innovation because you can’t innovate internally

19:15 Destroying all the qualities that made the target company valuable

24:34 Mergers and acquisitions buy CEOs longer tenures

28:19 Our culture celebrates the big swings, not the steady transformation

30:35 Executive attention vanishes once the deal is signed, but that’s when the real work starts

38:43 Idea #1 - Let acquired company operate independently for as long as possible

41:35 Idea #2 - Use organizational network analysis to find and utilize your leverage points

44:14 Idea #3 - Spin up a real mission-based team around integration, or due diligence

46:18 Idea #4 - During due diligence, look at more than just the financial spreadsheets

47:08 Wrap up: Leave us a review and share the show with a friend!

Sound engineering and design by Taylor Marvin of ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Coupe Studios⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

It’s reorg season…again. And for many companies, it always is. Every 12 to 18 months, another wave of layoffs, leadership swaps, and org chart redraws rolls through the system. And yet, little changes. Strategy stalls. Trust erodes. Work doesn’t get better, just messier. So why do so many organizations keep reaching for the reorg lever first?

This week, Rodney and Sam unpack the seductive logic (and systemic failure) of reorgs as a change strategy. They dig into why structure work always feels like the fastest, most visible move a leader can make and why it so rarely delivers. Along the way, they explore the very real fallout of these moves on culture, trust, and performance, and offer smarter starting points for those considering a shake-up.

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Let's work together: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.theready.com/working-together⁠⁠⁠⁠

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Mentioned references:

00:00 Intro + Check-In: What feature is really important in your living space?

03:27 The Pattern: Orgs trapped in a cycle of endless reorgs

05:15 The fastest, most visible sign of change a CEO can show to a board or investors

09:55 Structure work should always come last, but most people do it first

12:22 Reorgs to hit a number come at the expense of workflow, culture, and strategy

19:07 Stop changing the structure without touching the ways of working

22:19 Fundamental components of structure work

25:14 How The Ready approached it’s own reorg

26:34 Fallout of bad reorgs on your team and culture

31:17 Companies underestimate the stress of reorgs on individuals

34:40 Hot takes: org structure in the age of AI; legal OS around restructuring

38:15 Idea 1: Use reorgs to recalibrate roles back to defaults

39:42 Idea 2: Value flow map your company before considering a standard reorg

42:53 Idea 3: Test new structure in parts of phases, not everything all at once

44:30 Idea 4: Accept that some centralization is required

47:50 Wrap up: Leave us a review and share the show with your coworkers!

Sound engineering and design by Taylor Marvin of ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Coupe Studios⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

The extended leadership team (those just below the C-suite) often finds itself stuck between translating strategy and triaging dysfunction. They’re tasked with cross-functional execution, but are rarely equipped, empowered, or aligned to pull it off. And in most organizations, this group is caught in a cycle of managing up, managing down, and managing chaos all around—with very little time or clarity left to lead.

This week, Rodney and Sam take a closer look at what’s really going on with extended leadership teams, why they matter so much, and what gets in their way. From power dynamics and peer competition to vertical incentives and missing cross-functional glue, they pull apart the system that makes this group so hard to organize—and so critical to transformation. They also share field-tested tactics that can turn this underutilized layer into an OS-upgrading powerhouse.

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Let's work together: ⁠⁠⁠https://www.theready.com/working-together⁠⁠⁠

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Mentioned references:

00:00 Intro + Check-In: What is one of your favorite low tech work hacks?

02:53 The Pattern: The extended leadership team is trapped between strategy and execution

05:17 The C-suite’s peace comes at the expense of chaos in the extended leadership team

09:04 Silos and competition between departments

12:52 Functions don’t truly understand what other functions contribute

15:40 The true work of the extended leadership team

21:40 External pressure on GenX and Millenial leaders reinforces the status quo

27:56 Idea 1: Identify shared purpose of your extended leadership team

30:45 Idea 2: Top missions for cross-functional leadership teams

35:21 Idea 3: Chartering a leadership team “role” for shared participation and ownership

37:52 Wrap up: Leave us a review and share the show with your colleagues

Sound engineering and design by Taylor Marvin of ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Coupe Studios⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

For years, the conversation around remote work has been stuck in binary debates. Home vs. office? Productivity vs. flexibility? Control vs. chaos? But what if we zoomed out and asked a better question: What kind of future is possible if people could actually work from anywhere?

This week, Rodney and Sam sit down with Raj Choudhury (Harvard Business School professor and author of The World Is Your Office) to explore what happens when companies stop fixating on location and start designing for freedom, trust, and real human needs. From engineering serendipity to reimagining hybrid models, they unpack how truly distributed work changes everything: how we meet, how we lead, how we grow talent, and how we build a more equitable future.

Learn more about Raj and his work by following him on LinkedIn and reading his new book: The World Is Your Office: How Work from Anywhere Boosts Talent, Productivity and Innovation.

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Let's work together: ⁠⁠https://www.theready.com/working-together⁠⁠

Get our newsletter: ⁠⁠Sign up here⁠⁠⁠⁠.

Follow us:

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Mentioned References:

00:00 Intro + Check-In: What’s your favorite aspect of being able to work from anywhere?

03:49 Central focus: How do organizations access distant talent?

08:20 How work from anywhere is different from work from home

11:08 Rethinking in-person days

19:23 The data doesn’t support RTO mandates

24:13 Dispelling productivity concerns

27:15 Unlocking digital twins in the workplace

34:05 Small towns being competitive for talent

38:04 AI’s role in work from anywhere

45:09 Where to look ahead for the next 5 years

47:10 Wrap up: Leave us a review and share this show with a coworker!

Sound engineering and design by Taylor Marvin of ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Coupe Studios⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.