Ego can be a powerful thing. It can give you the courage and strength to follow your dreams and get out of hard times.

But it can also work against you because humility is important in relationships, including at work.

Here’s a satisfying story about a boss who made her bed and had to lie in it.

You are not capable of doing my job. Ok.

Earlier this year my boss took three months off to have some surgery and recover.

Before my boss took her extended leave I asked about filling in her role while she was on leave and she told me” You are not capable of doing my job. No one here is.”

But OP had a plan and roped all of the staff into it.

I asked again in an email and was told the same thing. I sent the email to all my work colleagues.

When they advertised to fill in my boss’s role no one applied.

When management asked everyone why did no one apply, all 40 staff said they were not capable.

Bob from the other site was the only one. He was 24 and had just completed his new graduate year.

It was clear within a week that Bob had no idea how to be boss and things were going wrong very quickly.

Her boss found that her ego hadn’t helped her at all. On the contrary…

My boss returned blowing up how much work she has to do.

She tried to blame the workers on the ground for not being helpful enough.

I sent her back her email where she stated that I nor any staff was capable of doing her work.

We didn’t see her leave her office for months.

Here’s what people are saying.

SO insufferable! How can you think alienating coworkers is a good idea?

Good! Things need to be documented so that things can be efficient and policies can be followed.

Interesting. It’s quite true. For example, if you have to hustle for every sale, you’re actually losing money.

Not really. His boss would have been a nightmare when she came back.

Definitely. Unfortunately it tends to not work that way. So you move on to better things.

Ego is overrated.

If you liked that story, check out this post about a group of employees who got together and why working from home was a good financial decision.