I agree with you on that communication is very important. I have been trying this as well. However, no matter how you communicate with him, he is keeping doing this for his own interest, i.e. get extra resources so that he can spend more time on his self-learning.
Besides, he is well-known for his poor communication skills. No matter who comes into his office, they have to take a deep breath before that. Whoever comes out of his office make such comments: "boy, I want to jump out of the window just by talking to him for 5 minutes" or "I want to cry after talking to him" or "he is really unique, is there any trauma happened to him in his life?" So to be honest, I do not want to talk to him either if possible.
Any suggestion on how to communicate with a boss like this?
