Taming the Abrasive Manager:
How to End Unnecessary Roughness in the Workplace

Laura Crawshaw, Ph.D.
Founder, The Boss Whispering Institute

Do you manage someone who is abrasive? Work with someone who is abrasive? Work for someone who is abrasive? You are not alone. Research shows that at one time or another, most of us will work over, under, or with an abrasive boss who is blind to the harm caused by his or her overly aggressive style.

Taming the Abrasive Manager is an ideal resource for managers, human resource professionals, coaches, and anyone who works for or with an abrasive boss. Executive coach Laura Crawshaw, Ph.D., known as The Boss Whisperer® for her work in this field shares her discoveries on how to tame the deep fears that drive abrasive managers to attack their coworkers. In her straight-shooting style, Crawshaw offers invaluable insights gained from her encounters with abrasive bosses in corporate jungles who aggressively defend against threats to their dominance in the high-risk business of survival. These insights, combined with lessons learned from employees and organizations who have successfully reined in their unmanageable bosses, provide realistic solutions that will improve the workplace for everyone.

Crawshaw’s groundbreaking research explores why abrasive managers resort to interpersonal aggression with coworkers, why they deny their destructive impact, and what individuals and organizations can do to effectively get these bosses to back off and behave in a civilized manner. Exploding the myth that so-called “bully” bosses intentionally set out to harm employees, Crawshaw discovered the exact opposite: lacking the ability to read other’s emotions, abrasive bosses are blind to the wounds they inflict. She also challenges the commonly-held belief that abrasive bosses can’t change. The book offers hope through time-tested strategies for reclaiming even the most difficult managers to end unnecessary roughness at work.

Praise for Taming the Abrasive Manager:

• “Laura Crawshaw has a deep understanding of how to deal with the abrasive boss. The principles and ideas in this book are brilliant and can be implemented by anyone facing an abrasive manager, colleague, or team member. Crawshaw provides a road map on how to stop being a hostage to an abrasive boss and threatening work environment.”
  —George A. Kohlrieser, professor, Leadership and Organizational Behavior, IMD (International Institute for Management Development), Lausanne, Switzerland and author, Hostage at the Table
• Employee retention is one of the biggest issues that organizations face today, and one of the main reasons people leave is a destructive manager. Based on her many years of researching and coaching abrasive bosses, Dr. Crawshaw offers practical, real-world steps on how to turn this behavior around. You owe it to yourself and those you work with to read this book!”
  —Jon Peters, President, The Institute for Management Studies
• Powerful advice for anyone who works under, over, or with an abrasive manager”
  —Bruce Jackson, Ph.D., President and CEO, The Institute of Applied Human Excellence