Bosses From Hell

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In truth, it's the guys who run lousy companies who really wear the black hats. When Frank Lorenzo took over Eastern Air Lines, the animosity that developed between him and union bosses grew so great that it hastened the carrier's demise. He was so vilified that he once defended his reputation by saying that he did not eat children for breakfast. On the other hand, Robert Crandall, the recently retired chairman of moneymaking American Airlines, draws effusive praise for being a hard-ass. A chain-smoking, incessant curser, Crandall called weekend meetings so often that execs' wives drew straws to see who would ask him to let up. Like all mean bosses, he had nicknames--"Darth Vader" and "Fang" among them.

But bosses have often been unbearable and will continue to be. "The caveman who sat around the fire and picked up the stick and hit the other guys on the head became the leader, and things haven't really changed," explains Stanley Bing, author of Crazy Bosses: Spotting Them, Serving Them, Surviving Them. "The really great bosses are not really great human beings. Gandhi was a terrible boss."

--By Joel Stein