Some of my closest work relationships are with the IT support of huge companies, or small companies with huge profit margins. Some companies have very involved owners and executives who make the effort to keep up to date on the technical side of the business. Some companies have owners who treat technology as incomprehensible and IT resources like slave magicians. Technology is ever evolving, offering new features and improvements, but the demand for these pushes developers to early releases with unanticipated bugs. Some manufacturers historically would spend years lab testing a release before allowing customers to have it. Now they cut corners by making customers their lab test environments and trusting they can quickly fix bugs as customers report them. Unfortunately the loudest demanding voices in my experience are the executives (often non technical) asking for the latest and greatest features. These same executives are also the loudest to throw their weight around, threatening the livelihood of service providers, their own IT resources and whoever else they can assign blame for the inconvenience of these bugs. These are the people I'd like to rant about today.

I feel like a common mental process or personal value of these people is the idea that money can buy anything, including submission to their irrational demands and temper tantrums. They aren't entirely wrong, otherwise they wouldn't be able to maintain employees. However, the more frequent and intense the abuse of these Tyrant Kings (and Queens) I've noticed the IT teams have high turnover, both from spontaneous firing for mistakes and by the toxic work environment driving otherwise good employees off looking for better jobs. I've turned down opportunities with companies that offered higher salary options after doing my research on their work culture and unearthing horror stories at the way owners treat employees.

I speculate that deeper than the belief that throwing money at people and problems is always a valid solution to having all desires met, tyrant kings believe that having money escalates their being to a transcendent authority figure whose very will can be made reality with enough money and force, and that this power is their inherent right. Again there is a seed of truth because it's amazing what a team of people under threat can accomplish together, but it has hard limits. Treating IT resources like subservient wish granters; genies of the LED lamp, disregards the true value of their power as independent troubleshooters, problem solvers, inventors of novel solutions! Having a sword hanging over your neck puts a big damper on your creative impulse and can hamstring your efficiency too.

If you suffer under such a tyrant, I empathize with you deeply and hope you can see past the trauma to your true value and find a better employer who will value you for what you bring to the table. I have no easy solutions to take down these cruel masters except remember that their power over you is a transitory illusion. As a service vendor my company has essentially fired customers who egregiously mistreated us. You can walk away. You can even stand your ground and draw the line in the sand for them. I've had a handful of abusive customers over the years, and the abuse continued until I put my foot down and lectured them on disrespectful treatment, ignorant disregard for the real challenges, and lack of cooperation in pursuing a positive solution. Some of these customers responded to my firmness with a puzzling about face as though I opened a door in them to an honest friendship, warm and conciliatory from that day forward.

The truth is when a bully is called out, particularly in the professional world, they often back down and modify their behaviour. Often in employer/employee relationships the illusion of power makes both parties forget that employment is a voluntary activity and ultimately the parties decide the parameters they can live with. I admit it comes from a place of privilege to be confident you can escape to a better place, but many people falsely believe they have no options when they do. When the narrative of your role with a company is controlled by a tyrant, it can be easy to accept that you are an unworthy sycophant accepting their charity rather than a person of value. If that were true they would discard you immediately, you are paid because you provide value. 

Another problem with this tyrannical personality trait is they usually make extra problems for themselves out of stubbornness. They demand something specific, IT tries to offer a different design or behaviour that will give them their true desired result but they don't like changing how they do things. In fact, they feel they have a right to get new results with no change on their part. With dialogue and compromise we can design smooth predictable process flows to get the most efficient results. Without these we are often trying to shove a square peg into a round hole. We end up carving off the corners awkwardly and going "Tada! There it fits." but of course there are holes left over that we can not fill. This often also ends up unacceptable and the entire thing is scrapped in a rage by the boss.

I feel that in these troubling times, the pressure on every person and business has heightened stress. It has exacerbated some work environments as employees become scapegoats for mentally and emotionally unwell leadership. Though it is often a good thing to generate empathy for others, it should not be at the expense of your own health.