2. Observe Your Boss. It might sound funny, but notice what is going on around your boss. In case you’ve known or worked with your boss before and you observe a sudden change, then your next step should be to take action right away. The problem could be as simple as someone asking him something way out of his league, or someone talking to him about you and your team. Whatever reason might be you need to act and confront your boss as soon as possible. If you do this at beginning, you might be able to stop a snowball effect -- not only for you but also for entire team. Confrontation does not come easy for most people, yet if you seek a constructive conversation, have an open mind, avoid turning it into a personal attack, you might be able to ease tensions with your boss and also improve his position.

3. Accumulate Facts. Nothing is irrelevant if you work in an unhealthy environment. You need to make sure that you accumulate all things that matter for your career -- good as well as bad stuff. Good things that you’ve done, bad things that have happened to you, and things that you could have done better. The key here is to have nothing against you, nothing that will give people permission to talk about you and question your character.

4. Know Your Value. You might feel beaten down, overworked, under appreciated and doubtless about your true value. Grow up! Things happen and your value does not diminish simply because one cannot see your true value. If you are a professional, do a good job, and people that work with you will see a direct contribution to team’s success. Then be sure that you have created your own evangelists – people who will tell others about your true value.

5. Expand Your Network. Now, more than ever, you need to think that working for a large company is not very different than working on your own. You need to learn to promote yourself. People need to know who you are, within your company and outside your company. Successful business owners never stop networking. There are so many things you can learn simply by networking. The key here is to find 2 or 3 networking initiatives that you feel comfortable doing and commit to them.

6. Seek For Comfort Outside Your Office. Many people often make this mistake. They work for an incompetent boss and they start complaining about her or him to a “good friend” who also works for company. For whatever reason this might happen because you are seeking comfort or love. Sometimes you simply need a sounding board in order to release pinned-up stress. Do it outside office and avoid discussing your problems with others with whom you work.

Times have changed and even though it might seem hard to work for someone that you know is not suitable for his or her position, remember things and people appear to us to teach something. The sad reality is most “incompetent” leaders do not get fired; they just move on and reinvent themselves in new companies. The chance that you will either work with same leaders or someone like them again before your career ends is great. However if you manage to stay calm and think about lessons you’ve learned and how to counteract incompetent behavior, you will have all wisdom needed in order to become a better leader yourself in future jobs.