Maybe, but they re not bulletproof. A bulletproof boss has to do better. He or she must also avoid the Seven Deadly Subtleties. The Seven Deadly Subtleties are managerial behaviors, none of which is so overt that an employee can easily articulate a grievance against it. They are the kinds of things bosses have traditionally gotten away with the behaviors that make employees feel powerless, defeated and hopeless.
Broken promises head the list.
Meetings that you schedule with an employee then abruptly cancel, phone messages that are left unreturned, and requests that have been approved but not followed through all can be interpreted as disrespect or even disdain. Fair-weatherism is another enrager. President Clinton has been criticized by several of his former aides for engaging in a style of fair-weatherism in which he favors certain staff members, showering them with privilege and protection until someone else comes along who can better move his agenda. Staffers who once could do no wrong suddenly find they can t do anything right. Employees often find it hard to confront this behavior in a boss, and tend to simply seethe.