Let’s talk about bosses: the good, the bad and the ugly
Good bosses are fair and honest; they communicate clear standards; they are, or can be, inspirational. What makes a bad boss? Well, you tell me.
I’ve had a few and I am sure you have too. Let’s talk about bosses: the good ones, the bad ones and the ones in between. Although the middling ones aren’t nearly as interesting as the bosses at the edges.
I am not convinced the term boss will survive the 2020s; today it’s all about leaders. I think the logic is that today’s leaders are kinder, gentler versions of yesterday’s older, gruffer bosses. The (invariably male) bosses that I reported to in my early consulting career came from a different era. Born in the ’40s, they were shaped in their thinking, I am sure, by the influence of the military. Not that they served, but post-war Australia was effectively managed by a command-and-control logic.
I can remember a team meeting in a professional services firm in the early 1990s when the boss – then aged 50 – said: “A partnership isn’t a democracy; here’s what’s going to happen.” I liked this bloke. He was a straight shooter. He knew what he wanted. He expected reports to be perfectly written. He knew the difference between a colon and a semi-colon. He spoke my language.
Good bosses are fair and honest; they communicate clear standards; they are, or can be, inspirational. They know when to be firm and when to be understanding with a staff member going through a tough time.
And they have a technical knowledge that impresses. I had a boss who seemed to knowevery suburb in every Australian city. I wanted that knowledge! (I now have that knowledge.)
I had a boss who could complete mental arithmetic on figures momentarily flashed up on a screen, and then recall those figures in a different context days later. In-the-moment arithmetic agility impresses me almost as much as correct punctuation.
The world of bosses changed in the early 2000s when Generation Y (now known as the Millennials) entered the workforce. Here was a different generation of workers less inclined to kowtow to management without questioning, sometimes even challenging workplace protocols. An industry blossomed on how to manage these workers, who seemed to require constant feedback and validation. Shocking stuff for the gruff-boss blokeage!
Shallower labour pools, a result of decades of smaller families, meant that management had fewer workers from which to pick and choose. The concept of leaders and leadership started to emerge. Workers talked about the need to be trained, mentored and supported; they talked about an organisation being “the right fit” for their personality and aspirations.
I am now a boss of my own advisory firm, not so much with staff but with colleagues, some of whom I have worked with for almost 30 years. My experience tells me bosses need to be communicative, they need to lead by example, and they need to inspire.
I am now focused not just on running the business but also on mentoring and creating opportunities for my younger colleagues so that they become the next generation of demographic and advisory talent. It seems to me to be a worthwhile thing to do – a legacy, in fact. Being a boss and/or a leader is a great privilege. It is challenging and at times it can be downright frustrating. But then, isn’t this also true of anything worth pursuing in life?
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