Have you ever had a really bad boss? Think Alec Baldwin as Blake in Glengarry Glen Ross, who announces that "coffee's for closers only" and then threatens the salesmen he supervises with a number of choice terms not suitable to repeat here. Few leaders use quite so much verbal abuse, profanity, and fear to motivate employees. But plenty of leaders use similar, if less extreme, tactics. Deborah Gruenfeld would like to know why so many people put up with them.