What Terrible Bosses Can Teach You

Sometimes the best insights come from the worst experiences. Here, six founders dish on their awful former bosses-and how they learned to do better.

1/ The angry, undermining boss

"She would yell and throw things at people. She was also very controlling and received copies of every email for the company, regardless of the intended recipient. Then she'd answer those emails without copying the employee. The final insult was when she wouldn't promote me because she said I was too valuable in my existing role, and then hired an unqualified director and required me to train her. This taught me that a company must present a unified and consistent face, and abuse and bullying don't work." -DONNA SHANNON, president and founder, Personal Touch Career Services

2/ The freeloader bully boss