Comments for Control Freak

Comment on Statistical Significance Calculator Widget by Gyselynck

Gyselynck — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 18:57:38 +0000

very useful bravo

Comment on Losing it by Rob

Rob — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 13:29:13 +0000

Nice to see an update. Thanks for the perspective.

Comment on Statistical significance by Maggie

Maggie — Sat, 20 Nov 2010 01:58:17 +0000

But this completely ignores the bias due to the fact that (a) people who feel strongly about the issue or who have time to reply or believe in the concept of polling will actually reply and (b) polling inevitably reaches only certain areas or groups of people. Personally I hate it when I see polls quote a “3 percent margin of error”. That may be statistically correct according to Poisson statistics, but it is still complete B.S. to use that poll for policy making. All it means is that they polled 1000 people–who could be all from a Republican district, or all living in suburbia, or all in some way NOT representative of the population as a whole.

Comment on Who’s in your team by Liz

Liz — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 21:59:09 +0000

What an excellent insight you have, it’s great to find your talent, thank you for sharing : )

Comment on Forcing password changes by Al Maloney

Al Maloney — Sun, 20 Jun 2010 15:16:09 +0000

A simple way to create a password that is reasonably secure is to take the name of a book that one can remember, use the first letter of the name (upper &/or lower case), add the last two digits of the year of publication, then the initials of the author (upper &/or lower case).

How to Solve It-A New Aspect of Mathematical Method 1945 G Polya

hTsIANaoMm45GP

Comment on Statistical Significance Calculator Widget by Al Maloney

Al Maloney — Sun, 20 Jun 2010 12:31:46 +0000

This is beautiful!

Comment on Building systems like a tailor made suit by Al Maloney

Al Maloney — Sun, 20 Jun 2010 12:29:26 +0000

Surely Y2K is a prime example of this.
And, how about the USofA penchant for allowing only one middle initial in most of the forms?

Comment on ASCII Table Widget by Kid

Kid — Fri, 14 May 2010 05:03:05 +0000

It does not work on my Macmini running 10.4.11 It shows a C or COD in red.

Comment on A monopoly of ideas by Deborah

Deborah — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 20:07:36 +0000

I am 1 of those control freaks. I want to control everything and everyone. I do not want to listen to anyone else’s ideas. If I listen to other people’s ideas and we use them. Everyone may figure out how incompetent I really am. I have to control everyone’s actions, my husband, my employee’s, my kids. Everything needs to be the way I want it. I hide behind my power, so no one will figure me out. As long as I keep talking and being a bitch everyone will think I know what I’m doing. I have to put in extra hours, because if I am not there. They may figure out they don’t need me or someone may do something on their own and it may be better than what I would have done. I try to show my boss how tough I am and show how I will do what it takes; I am even a bitch to my employees. I want my boss to think I am a company player, but the truth is I am really weak and scared I will be figured out. I have heard my boss Gary hates me because I never shut up. I’m confused please send ideas and thoughs.

SO give us control freaks a break, we are actually weak and lack confidence.

Comment on No competition allowed by MustRemainAnonymous

MustRemainAnonymous — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 13:57:25 +0000

Just discovered this blog. Wish I’d discovered it earlier. In soooo many ways, it perfectly describes the person I’ve been direct-reporting to for the past 10-plus years. It would take me hours to describe all the manipulation, bullying, drill-drill-drill-dig-dig-dig petty hourly/daily micromanagement, gate-keeping, endless pointless meeting-making, idea-crushing, creativity-destroying, initiative-squelching…well, you get the idea.

The boss right above my boss (the dep’t head) is also a control freak, but on a more macro level, which actually seems more bearable, if that makes any sense. At least he’s not calling and e-mailing every other second or setting up stupid adults-reading-to-adults meetings at the drop of a hat (thereby blitzing subordinates’ momentum and productivity).

But he does prevent subordinates from getting trained and developed (and my direct supervisor colludes in this).

When I first joined the company, I quickly realized that I was dealing with a micromanaging control freak boss (immediate superior) who would sap all the creative life out of me. I’m a copywriter with an ad-agency background, and I work in the (cough) “creative department” at this company…but, even though I was putatively hired because my portfolio contained strong creative concepts, I was immediately reduced to a production hack with no opportunity whatsoever to come up with ideas or concepts. (Whenever I did, they were squelched. Always with a different excuse.)

Anyway, I became so unhappy and frustrated that I decided to give myself a creative challenge–by learning about something new. I was doing e-commerce copywriting, and SEO was all the buzz, so I started learning about it. On my own time and on my own nickel, natch. I did ask my bosses if they would spring for a $100 SEO copywriting course (on CD). They refused, so I said, “The heck with this,” and bought it myself.

That’s how it’s been ever since. Under pressure from upper management, my bosses did spring, at one point, for some books for the department. But after the upper manager who had exerted this pressure left the company, the book-buying ceased. But that hasn’t stopped me. During lunch hours, I “attend” webinars, read blogs and fora, and download e-books on the topics that interest me, like SEO and conversion optimization. I figure that–even if I’m effectively prevented from putting *anything* I’m learning into practice–I can always use it elsewhere.

And that’s pretty much what keeps me going, to tell the truth.

You are so right: Knowledge is power. Which is why micromanaging control freaks have a strong vested interest in preventing subordinates from obtaining knowledge!