Is Your Leadership Style Fit for TV?

From The Office’s Michael Scott to The Simpsons’ Mr. Burns, there are plenty of poor examples of leadership from popular TV shows. These bosses are out of touch, greedy, arrogant, spineless, slave-driving, confrontation-avoidant and worse.

But, believe it or not, there are some things to learn from these over-the-top bosses, as Gregory White points out in a recent blog:

Mr. Burns  If he could be summed up in one word, that word would be “greedy.” He only cares about the bottom line, himself ... and the bottom line. Remember when he attempted to block out the sun from the city of Springfield so that they would have to use electricity 24 hours a day? He has about the same amount of concern for his own employees. He puts them in danger to cut costs on safety measures. Be warned that if you take yourself too seriously and have no time for a personal life, you’re hovering in Mr. Burns territory. If you have nothing else in your life besides work, you’ll likely expect your employees to have the same amount of time to burn that you do. They don’t, and you can’t expect them to.

Liz Lemon  As the female leader of a prank- and goof-off loving pack of comedy writers, Liz is an overworked and underappreciated unmarried woman with no life. She’s got the work ethic of an ox, and is constantly bailing out her reckless writers. She pulls all-nighters to do re-writes and spends Valentine’s Day getting a root canal. You can follow her lead if you want to have an office meltdown in which you force your employees to watch a particularly touching episode of Designing Women and shout “This is my house!” Julia Sugarbaker-style before collapsing from exhaustion.

Michael Scott  This guy just wants his employees to be his friends. He would rather have fun than do work, and is constantly distracting his employees from their work (i.e., movie day, races, parties, contests). And in turn, most of his employees take advantage of him. They talk back and act insubordinate. There’s nothing wrong with being chummy with your employees, but be careful to balance “friend” with “boss” or you’ll suffer the consequences.

Jack Bauer  He’s not your typical “boss” character, in that he’s really just a guy who commands his co-workers to do what he says. And that usually involves breaking the rules. I know, I know: breaking the rules for the greater good, but breaking the rules nonetheless. Not to mention, he’s more than willing to compromise the business to reach his own goals.

So, who’s your favorite TV boss? Good or bad – share your favorite TV boss moments.

–Lauren Vasquez, Associate Editor