When You Love Your Job, but Hate the Boss

A recent Gallup Poll of 1 million workers found that the most common reason employees leave a company relates to a stressful or problematic relationship with their immediate supervisors. Even the venerable Jack Welch quit his first job because he didn't like his boss's methods. "I had a baby and no money," he confides in a CBS News article. "I borrowed $1,000 from my mother."

Things worked well for Welch, but others have regretted their decision to leave a job and company they love, just to escape a poor manager. Michael, a sales executive at a major food company, was being ill-treated by a boss who had inherited him through an acquisition.

"It was clear to everyone that my boss wanted to replace me with his protégé, so he would limit my travel and constantly question my decisions," Michael says.