Great Job, Sh!t Boss — Available Now on Amazon

The Book

You're Not the Problem.

Bad bosses aren't rare. They're not outliers. They're practically a workplace norm — and if you've spent any time in a public sector environment, a nonprofit, a government office, or corporate America, you already know this.

Managers account for at least 70% of employee engagement variance. That means your workplace experience is largely determined by one person — and if that person is a disaster, the system will often protect them before it protects you.

This book is your playbook. Not a "just stay positive" pep talk. Not a "try to understand where they're coming from" hand-holding exercise. Real tools — rooted in organizational psychology, leadership science, and 15+ years of watching broken leadership protect itself — to recognize what you're dealing with, protect yourself, play the game strategically, and come out the other side with your career and your confidence intact.

"You are not the problem. You are just the one who ended up with one."

Whether you're in year two of your career or year twenty, whether you're exhausted or just starting to connect the dots — there is a way through. And more importantly, there is a way forward.

What's Inside

6 boss archetypes — with the psychology behind each one
Research-backed survival playbooks for every type
How to protect yourself without blowing up your career
Documentation strategies that become your receipts
Managing up, building your village, and playing the long game
The exit ramp — when to stay, when to go, and how to leave like a professional
A special lens for Black women and women of color navigating it all with the extra tax

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From the Introduction

"Here is something that happens — quietly, persistently, in the background of every difficult management relationship: You shrink. Not all at once. But over months with a bad boss, something shifts. You stop volunteering the idea you would have volunteered before. You re-read an email three times before sending it, because you've been made to feel that your judgment is unreliable. You introduce yourself with slightly less authority than you had six months ago."

"This is the hidden cost. It doesn't show up in performance metrics. It doesn't appear in any HR record. It lives entirely in you — in the slow recalibration of what you believe yourself capable of. This book names it. And then it gives you the tools to get it back."

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Know Your Enemy

The 6 Boss Archetypes

The Micromanager

They've emailed you twice before you've touched your coffee. They rewrote your report in objectively worse words. This is anxiety dressed up as oversight — and there's a playbook for it.

The Ghost

Chronically unavailable. Decisions don't get made. Approvals disappear. And somehow you're absorbing their job for free. Laissez-faire leadership has a body count — here's how to survive it.

The Credit Thief

Your idea. Their slide. Their applause. Nearly 80% of workers report this experience. You're not imagining it — and there are very specific moves you make before they can take what's yours.

The Gaslighter

They make you question your memory, your judgment, your reality. This chapter will help you trust yourself again — and build the paper trail that proves you were right all along.

The Favorite Player

The rules don't apply to everyone equally — and you know it. Favoritism is a leadership failure, not a you problem. Here's how to navigate it without losing your mind or your standing.

The Exploder

Volatile, unpredictable, moody. You've learned to read the room before you walk in the door. This chapter names it, gives you the research, and hands you the tools to protect yourself.

For the HR Community

This Book Is Also for You.

You're Not the Villain

The best HR professionals aren't sitting quietly protecting broken systems. They're advocating behind closed doors. Navigating impossible tensions. Fighting for fairness every single day.

Use It as a Leadership Tool

This book gives HR professionals a shared language for naming what's happening on their teams — and the evidence-based frameworks to address it. Make it required reading for every new manager.

You Have the Same Boss Problems

HR leaders have managers too. And sometimes those managers are exactly the types described in this book. This playbook works whether you're on the receiving end or trying to fix the culture.

"The best HR professionals I know are not sitting quietly protecting broken systems. They're advocating behind closed doors. Navigating impossible tensions. Fighting for fairness, better leadership, better workplaces, clearer systems, safer cultures, and more human-centered decisions every single day. HR was never supposed to just be about policies and paperwork. At its best, it's about PEOPLE."

— Candice Maldonado · Viral LinkedIn Post · 98,000+ Impressions · International HR Day 2026

Get Your Copy on Amazon → Book Candice for Your Team

Early Readers

What People Are Saying

"This is the book I needed three years ago. I recognized my boss in the first chapter and cried by the third. Required reading for anyone navigating a hard workplace situation."

— Beta Reader, Public Sector

"Candice writes the way a trusted mentor talks — honest, specific, no corporate fluff. The documentation chapter alone is worth the price of the book."

— HR Professional, Education Sector

"Finally — a workplace book that respects your intelligence and tells you the truth. I've already bought copies for two colleagues."

— Senior Manager, Government Agency

More reviews coming June 10 — launch day.

Speaking & Booking

Bring Candice to Your Organization

Candice Maldonado is a workplace resilience speaker, HR leader, and DEI professional with 15+ years in the public sector. She brings receipts, research, and real talk to every stage — and she leaves audiences with tools they can actually use on Monday morning.

Surviving Bad Leadership Without Losing Yourself

The keynote version of the book — archetypes, playbooks, and a framework for protecting your career and your sanity.

The Extra Tax: Race, Gender & Workplace Dysfunction

An honest, research-backed conversation about the compounded burden carried by Black women and women of color in institutional settings.

HR Is People Work: Reclaiming the Function

For HR professionals, people managers, and leadership teams who want to build cultures where good people don't have to write a survival playbook to get through the day.

Great Job — Leadership That People Actually Want

For organizations investing in leadership development. The flip side of the book: what does it look like to be the boss people choose to follow?

Let's Talk

Fill out the form below and Candice's team will be in touch within 48 hours.

Got It — Thank You!

Candice's team will be in touch within 48 hours. In the meantime, grab the free Survival Kit below.

Free Download

The First 30 Days Survival Kit

A practical toolkit for your first month with a difficult boss. Observation tracker. Documentation templates. The "I need to raise a concern" script. The 7-boss decoder. Yours free.

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Your First 30 Days Survival Kit is on its way. Go get your power back.

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About the Author

Candice Maldonado

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Public Administration · Education · DEI · HR · Workplace Resilience Speaker

Candice Maldonado built her career at the intersection of public administration, education, DEI, and HR — spending 15+ years inside the institutions that shape how people work, lead, and are led. She has navigated government offices, public school systems, affordable housing agencies, and one of the largest public employers in the country.

She sat in rooms where broken leadership was protected, where good people were worn down, where the system chose itself over the people it was supposed to serve. Through that experience, she developed a precise and practical understanding of what it actually takes to survive — and thrive — inside these environments.

She writes for professionals who are excellent at their work and tired of watching someone else's dysfunction stand between them and being able to prove it. She is especially committed to Black women and women of color navigating the extra tax of race and gender inside institutional settings.

Great Job, Sh!t Boss is her first book. It will not be her last.

Get Your Copy on Amazon → Book Candice to Speak

Speaking inquiries: greatjobshitboss@gmail.com

Great Job,Sh!tBoss.