Bad-boss self-concept: As a leader, I'll be a higher-up.

Good-boss self-concept: As a leader, I'll have to go lower down.

The bad-boss tales I've heard include many stories of managers demanding the undoable, responding to objections by simply reiterating that it had to be done. This creates nothing but hostility. "If you want to govern the people, you must place yourself below them," said the philosopher Lao-tzu (who is my favorite management consultant, despite having been dead for centuries). That doesn't mean you become a slave to your followers' whims. Great bosses acknowledge their own ignorance and ask questions of everyone to gain a better grasp of two important things: What's going on? What needs to be done?