I'm having dinner with one of my old bosses tonight. We see each other with some regularity. When I transitioned from the world of not for profit to the world of mainstream advertising, he was the first guy who took a chance on me. He remains one of my favourite employers and a trusted friend.
Being a good boss takes a lot of work but it helps if you're blessed with an innate sense of fairness.
Fairness counts more than niceness in my books, though equal parts of both are better if you're on the receiving end. Knowing that your boss operates from a moral imperative is also good when it comes to questioning why they do some things and not others. It's nice to know they answer to a Higher Power who isn't just the bald, Satanic dude at head office.
When layoffs happen, which seem to be somewhat inevitable these days, it's nice to know that a good boss suffered a lot to make the decision. You know he or she didn't come by it easily. And you know they're working behind the scenes to find safe landing pads for their untethered former employees.
Being a good boss is often a thankless job. Few people turn up at your door and say, "Hey, thanks for the fair compensation package. Everything's going just fine. Thanks for having my back in that process meeting today."
So to you, good bosses of the world, I send up a silent prayer. Thanks for makiing a difference.
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