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wife and I were confirmed New Yorkers. Plus, of course, she had a job she loved and informed me in no uncertain terms that she didn’t intend to sacrifice her career for mine. (Good for her!) If my new boss had simply followed my first boss’s advice, I probably would have turned down the job and continued on my well-planned rise at that trade publisher.
    Well, she didn’t. So I had little choice. Luckily, my wife’s boss found a way for her to keep her job . . . and do it from the Midwest. So we moved. While the situation looked fantastic, it turned out to be a company in well-hidden trouble with two control-freak bosses (a husband and wife, no less) that I reported to. Within ten months, I was looking for a job again . . . and making the move back to the New York area . . . where no one particularly wanted to give me a job approaching the money or responsibility I had just had!
    The result was a company called Career Press, which I founded not long thereafter, using my severance check from the Midwest. More than two decades later, it is a well-known publisher of 72 nonfiction books a year.
    Now, I am not at all unhappy that things worked out the way they did. I became my own boss, and I have absolutely never regretted the unexpected path my career took. But it wasn’t exactly a free choice, was it? It started with a promotion, of all things. Did I ask anything about that first new boss? How compatible we were? Her style of management? Did I talk to anyone else who had worked for her? Did I talk to my predecessor in that position?
    NO.
    Did I ask about the salary and bonuses and special deals? Oh, you betcha I did.
    It gets worse. Because I was in an untenable situation, the Midwest job looked like a godsend. Well, did I ask anything about my two new bosses before starting to pack? How compatible we were? Their (absolutely contradictory) styles of management? Did I talk to anyone else who had worked for them? Did I talk to my predecessor in that position?
    You know the answers, right?
    I do not handle authority well, something I guess I knew in my heart. But I never took the time to analyze myself enough to discover how essential a part of my nature it really was. Even after it caused one meltdown, I walked right into a second.
    A single aspect of your personality can have a similar effect on your relationship with a boss or company. Take the time to know yourself well enough to at least anticipate a problem!
    Don’t Wear Sandals at a White-Shoe Company
    Birds of a feather do flock together. And different companies tend to attract particular “species” of employees. A company’s physical environment, management attitude and policies, and the personality of the “birds” that predominate, comprise its corporate culture. Is it a loose atmosphere with jean-clad creative types running amok? Or is it a buttoned-down, blue-suited autocracy with a long list of rules to follow during timed coffee breaks?
    Some companies are dominated by a single personality—a still-active founder or an executive who has exerted a strong, long-lasting influence on policies and style. Think Jack Welch at GE, Bill Gates at Microsoft, or Larry Ellison at Oracle. While there are exceptions, such companies tend to be closely held fiefdoms whose every level reflects the “cult of personality.” If that personality is a despot, benign or otherwise, even a decentralized management structure won’t create a company everyone wants to work for. (Gates, for one, is reportedly a very demanding boss.)
    Family-owned companies often pose similar problems. Your chances to make decisions and take responsibility may be tied to your last name. Barely competent family members may wind up with cushy, highly paid jobs, while you and other “outsiders” do all the work. While many such firms are privately held, even publicly traded companies in which family members hold a significant block of stock (like Ford or Dupont) still answer primarily to the