Whether your boss is a micromanager, wants to be your best friend, or is just totally inept, quitting doesn’t have to be the only way out—especially if you like everything else about your job. See, you probably didn’t know that a bad boss provides opportunities for you to grow your own leadership skills, both on how to manage yourself and how to manage others. Silver lining! Who knew?

To start diving through that dark cloud, let’s change how you think about your boss. Yes, your boss has the power to influence your professional future, even though they can’t manage the Diet Coke cans accumulating on their desk. To get through this, try thinking of your boss as a difficult client whose business you really need (and who you aren’t at liberty to fire).  Try to figure out what makes them tick so you can learn to tick along with them instead of getting ticked off!

Here’s how to survive three types of bad bosses:

• Micromanager: Your days are filled with, “Did you send that email/contact that client/write that report?” And you can’t send that email/contact that client/write that report without your boss’s thoughts on exactly how you should do it. Oh, and there’s criticism if the methods don’t match up with their own. It’s not because you’re inept or unreliable, it’s because your boss is unable to relinquish control. Of anything.

How you manage: Nobody likes feeling helpless and out of control. So take control back with a massive dose of your boss’s own medicine. Ask for a daily meeting to go over your to-do list. Ask to clarify every detail your boss has spoken to before—the font size, the wording of the salutation, when and how many meeting reminders to send, a timeline to review the final product—all that good stuff. At the end of the day, send her a list of exactly what you did. Either you’ll have a very happy micromanaging boss, or your boss will eventually back off and trust your judgment. Either way, it’s an improvement.

• Incompetent: Your boss might be good at their job, but they don’t have any idea what you do or how if should be done. They can’t manage their way out of their lunch box . . . but that doesn’t stop them from trying, giving ill-advised direction about everyone’s job, and basically messing up your entire team’s dynamic.

How you manage: Give your boss a little credit—there’s a good chance they know management isn’t their strongest skill. Ask where you can step in to help lead meetings or oversee projects. That takes the pressure off your boss while turning more responsibility on yourself. And if your boss messes up projects just by knowing about them, consider including your boss on a need-to-know basis; you can develop your projects and share the end results with your boss. Be sure to phrase it as, “The team discussed it and thinks the best decision is….”

• Best Friend: Your boss wants to be your best friend, and everyone else’s. They smile and nod at every request. They try to accommodate even bad ideas and maladaptive employee behaviors. Their chitchat trumps business matters. They’re too nice to tell you how your work can improve. Their desire to be liked and to avoid confrontation is bringing down your team’s quality.

How you manage: Keep your conversations on track; lead with the business result you want to accomplish: “I’d like to get your feedback on this report.” Point out when their niceness damages the team, such as when they continue to accommodate a disengaged employee who is tanking morale and productivity. Explain that their constructive criticism will help you become a stronger employee. Their niceness may come from an unwillingness to rock the boat.

We all have strengths and weaknesses at work, and bad bosses aren’t necessarily bad people! At the end of the day, ask yourself whether this boss’s weaknesses are ones you can survive or even steer toward improvement. And if you decide you simply can’t abide them, at least then you can say you tried!