This is the Business English Podcast, episode 157.
Is your boss on a power trip? Tips on what to do.
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Offer ends August 10th. allearsenglish.com slash connection hey michelle what's going on not too much lindsay how are you good i'm excited to be on business english here today yes okay lindsay well i'm gonna start with a question okay um do you think most people want to have some sort of power at work oh geez that is a tough question i don't think so i think maybe there's probably a certain kind of personality that does want that but so it's hard to say whether that's most people i don't think that's most people i think most people want to feel successful i feel like that is a key piece of human like human need or the hierarchy of needs we need to feel self uh self-actualized and successful i don't know about powerful I think, you know, some people, I mean, I think of politics, right?
That I want to feel powerful or something may take it too far.
So today we're going to talk about, discuss a commonly used expression in the workplace.
But it can also be used outside of the workplace as well.
But we're going to share it for Business English today.
Yes, I'm excited. So before we get into that, guys, hit follow on Business English Podcast.
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Love it. All right. So what is the expression we're teaching today?
Well, Michelle, it's pretty simple. Power trip.
A power trip. Yes. Lindsay, is this something?
Do you use this expression? yeah for sure when i comment on people i mean politicians are a great example i think a lot about power in politics especially these days and how power corrupts right i mean that's a common saying you know power corrupts you yeah okay go ahead No, no, I didn't have anything else to say.
I didn't know. Yeah, I mean, to say someone is on a power trip.
Yeah, usually that's how we say we say to someone to be on a power trip.
This is a very negative connotation. Don't you think, Lindsay?
Totally. Yeah. 100%. Yeah. This means someone is trying to have control or power and they are able to make some sort of decisions and they get a little carried away.
And, you know, then it's just obvious that they aren't doing it for the right reasons, not to be successful because they're enjoying making the decisions, right?
They're enjoying having the power. yeah for sure for sure and you know that's why you need systems that are set up well to check on to check power right have a check against power um you know we do in theory have that in government right um but you know at the workplace because this is business english um it depends on your workplace right yeah yeah yeah exactly because people can i think I agree with you, Lindsay.
I think that, you know, the majority of people want to be successful.
But I do think that sometimes, you know, there are people who are out for the power and maybe don't even realize it.
Yes. Yeah. And, you know, that's what that's what happens is maybe you just think, oh, but I'm just, you know, and then you get a little carried away.
So. Um, why, why do you think this would happen?
Like, why would someone get carried away by this power?
I mean, they might feel small in their lives in other ways.
You know, they feel small. Maybe they feel like they have no power.
I know of a, someone I know worked for someone like three jobs ago back in Boston, who was definitely on a power trip, emotional power trip and And in some ways, a physical power trip too.
It was crazy. Oh my gosh. It was insane.
A really, really toxic work environment.
And eventually this person left after a couple of years, thank goodness.
But it was really damaging to this person as an employee.
Oh, that's terrible. And I think about that person.
I think he probably just didn't feel happy in his life.
Yeah. Oh, that's terrible. Yeah. I, we're going to give some examples in a second, but just guys, if you haven't heard, uh, episode of one 52 of the business English podcast, listen up to, can we talk privately?
What to say in this awkward situation? Yes.
I love how we go into these very specific examples of situations at work.
Guys, we have you covered for the language.
You need to be a human being. At work, Michelle, right?
That's our angle on business English. Exactly.
Exactly. So one example could be of maybe your boss micromanages you all of the time and finds things to criticize that seem unimportant, right?
Like just like, oh, there's always something to pick on.
That might be a clue. Or what else, Lindsay?
Yeah. Yeah. So another example could be your coworker who is in charge of a task decides to be tough on everyone.
So that coworker decides to be toxic. I keep on coming up with the word toxic.
That's funny because today when I was planning episodes, I like made an asterisk like near the word toxic maybe for a different episode.
And I was like, oh, because I want to do a whole episode on the word toxic.
We'll do another episode on that. I do feel like that's the word that people are using these days because, you know, you talk to friends and you hear about people's work environments.
You do hear that word native speakers using that word toxicity, a toxic work environment, toxic person, a toxic co-worker, that kind of thing.
Yeah, that's right. Yeah, absolutely. Or maybe a hiring manager is extremely picky to a point where it doesn't make sense, right?
Like, oh, they didn't do this. Like, I'm looking for this or this or this.
The point is, guys, it's okay to take charge, right?
You want to be a leader if you're, of course, especially if you're in a leadership position.
But if you're just like constantly taking charge and being nitpicky for like seemingly no good reason, you might actually be on a power trip. yeah i mean i think it's like who has time for for little things that are irrelevant to the success i think the key is to make sure we don't fall into this is focusing on the success of the company right like we're all working together to help a company be successful and that we all want to be successful in our own careers And so nitpicking little things about your coworker that are not relevant to the success of their work or the quality of their work is irrelevant.
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What else, Michelle? What else do we need to know?
All right, well, let's talk about how to use this, right?
How do we actually use it in a sentence?
So what's the first example? Okay, so this is where we're talking about Tracy as our coworker and that person has gone on a power trip.
Ooh, okay. Tracy was on a power trip again, so we decided to ignore her.
Ooh. That sounds like a bad strategy. Oh my gosh.
Okay, I don't know if I'd recommend ignoring it, but it's hard, right?
Well, what do you think you should do? What do you think you should do?
I don't know that I've had this experience to have coworkers kind of do that and take over and take control.
Yeah. i think eventually it would have to be addressed right maybe in some kind of a meeting with a lot of stakeholders and things would have to be like properly maybe reorganized within the company or something yeah you know yeah but yeah But yeah, I think it's a human response to ignore, right?
As a defense. Yeah, that's true. Or another example is, my boss has been giving me tons of assignments and looking over my shoulder for everything.
I think she's been on a power trip ever since she got promoted.
Oh my gosh, Michelle, have you ever had this situation in other jobs that you've had in the past where you had kind of toxic co-workers who were on a power trip?
Yeah, I think I've been fairly lucky. Like I... i think now that i think about um i guess i have had some sort of situation like that but um a long time ago so it's hard for me to remember um yeah but here's a question is being on a power trip the same thing as being bossy oh i struggle with the word bossy because i feel like the word bossy is never used to describe men Oh, yeah.
Well, yeah, that's a that's a that's a popular conversation.
That's another conversation topic for another day.
But I do I feel like I've never heard that word around like a male leader at work just around female leader.
So maybe I'll just say another word like is it the same as being overbearing could be a good word overbearing maybe or overly what what could be a synonym for bossy?
What do you think? something like overbearing overpowering tone deaf maybe something like that so the question so you're asking is it the same thing as yeah is it the same thing as just being overbearing sure yeah I would say it's the same thing in my mind yeah do you think so I think it's a little bit like I not completely.
I think the power trip is kind of like the constant need for it.
It's like implies some sort of over time, like or somebody is like getting carried away.
So it's like over and over and over. It's not like a necessarily or maybe it's getting worse over time.
Hmm. Interesting. Okay. Yeah. Maybe we'll have another episode in the future to kind of describe the differences or maybe to describe how someone's personality is like changing at work or something.
Like someone has shifted the way they communicate.
That could be an interesting episode, Michelle.
Could be. Well, how do you know, guys, how would you know if you're on a power trip?
Maybe we have some listeners who are on a power trip right now. um well certainly like if you are being extra nitpicky so this is a great word for our listeners today it's a bonus word what does it mean let's dig into that word for a minute michelle what does that mean critical extra critical about small things like oh you have a problem with like oh you didn't do this right oh you didn't do this right blah blah blah and like it's not it's not you know overall productive or it's things that don't really matter and you know that's how you might realize like oh wait am i does this actually matter or am i just enjoying criticizing people yeah yeah yeah that's hard it's it's hard because sometimes people that when they micromanage it's out of their own insecurity for their own mistakes and so that kind of i think that gets passed on to their employees that a sense of everything has to be done correctly because maybe they're concerned that they wouldn't do it correctly or they might miss mistakes.
So it's kind of hard. We have to make sure is the person just doing their best and trying to help you do your best or are they actually being kind of malicious in their actions towards you, right?
So which one is it? And so we have to kind of be careful to make sure that we really understand where they're coming from, I think.
Yeah. Sorry, guys. I don't know if you hear a baby crying, but I apologize.
So another thing is maybe if you realize that you get a lot of pleasure from making people do things like, oh, it's so much fun.
I don't really think that's what leadership is about.
So if you're just enjoying telling people what to do, I think it's a power trip.
Yeah. Interesting. Yeah. I mean, I think it all comes back to the organization and what needs to be done and making sure that I think the key there is making sure people know why they're doing what they're doing, like why it matters.
So saying, would you please complete this task?
And the reason we need to do this is X, Y, Z. I think that's really effective as a management.
Right, right, right. So we spoke about micromanaging.
And then also the last one is, you know, if you think your way is the best way and aren't open to suggestions or open to other people's thoughts or ideas, then yeah, also could be a power trip.
And another way to say this is what, Lindsay?
Wow, power hungry also is definitely an expression in our everyday slang expression.
Very similar, right? The person's looking to gain power.
Yeah. Yeah, exactly. So should we do a role play?
Yeah, let's do it. So here we're coworkers and we're talking about our other colleague who's the lead in a project.
Okay. All right. Oh man, did you get instructions from Phil?
Only about a million, you. Same. He also criticized all my work yesterday and made me do it again.
There were even some things he said were errors and I double checked and they weren't.
Honestly, I think he's just on a power trip.
He's been this way ever since they let him lead this project.
Definitely. I never knew he was so power hungry.
Yeah. Who knew? Oh, that's hard. Yeah. All right.
Let's go through the expressions, Michelle.
What did we have here? You said, uh. I said, uh.
Honestly, I think he's just on a power trip.
Yes. Good. And then I said, definitely. I never knew he was so power hungry.
Okay. yeah any takeaway for our listeners today michelle from your perspective yeah well i think this the the meaning of power like when power trip is used it's used in a negative way so don't say it about like your boss who you loved who you love like yes for sure Yeah.
You know, and then also if you're a leader, consider, you know, you know, how you feel about power, like evaluate it and, you know, make sure that you're connecting.
Like Lindsay said, making sure people know why they're doing certain things is a really good way to connect with your employees, I think.
Definitely. And I would also say, you know, I've never really been in a large corporate environment in my career, but I know that office gossip happens.
And, you know, I would also say if someone's doing something that you don't like, have the confidence to at some point, if you see a pattern, go to them about it, go directly to them about it and find out what's behind it.
You know, are they are they really stressed out in their lives?
And is it something that they or is there a mismatch in terms of their position in the company and their skills?
It could be that they don't have the skills.
They don't actually know how to lead. Yeah.
So instead of we don't condone like like kind of this because it does create a toxic environment.
Like the people who are being subjected to that can create a toxic environment.
Right. Right. So I would say communicate, have confidence. see if other people are experiencing it, but then don't just kind of gossip about it and be negative.
Go to them and say, hey, this doesn't feel okay.
Can you tell me what's going on? Or how can we work together to make sure this doesn't happen again?
That's what my message for our listeners, for sure.
I love that. Yeah. Yeah. Really well said, Lindsay.
I think that's important to take away from this episode.
So yeah. All right, guys. Well, thank you for listening and we will see you on the next one.
All right. Good stuff, Michelle. Talk to you soon.
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