OK. Idiot savant is no longer politically correct, but it’s still fun to say. An idiot savant is defined as: A person who exhibits an extraordinary ability in one subject while being mentally retarded in all other fields.

And thus begins my story.

Over the years I have been fortunate enough to work with and for some really great managers. As a trainer, I've taught classes where, for most of the participants, management was second nature. It's what they loved to do and their employees thought they were very good at it. But where there's a ying, there's a yang.

I've heard countless stories of managers who treat their employees like second rate citizens, who suffer from inferiority complexes or are just simply idiots. Research shows that poor managers are the second highest reason people leave companies. The first reason is because employees feel they are at a dead-end job with no place to go. And the cost to replace employees is very high.

So what's your story? Have you had bad experiences with managers? What happened? If you could say anything you wanted to say to your manager, what would you say?