This article is about the ‘boss’ who possesses all the possible and conceivable negative traits in his persona.
This article is about the ‘boss’ who possesses all the possible and conceivable negative traits in his persona. Boss, a mentality - a state of mind. Hence by deduction that leaves very few who don’t qualify to be boss, except in a negative sentiment.
The term ‘boss’ evokes ‘fear’- it is becoming rare to hear ‘had or have a nice boss’. The question arises who is the boss? All supervisors are bosses. They pervade the entire hierarchy. We all have a ‘boss’ in our lives; whether at work or at home. True and only great gentlemen never deny who the Boss is at home! Those who do deny cease to be men of truth and virtue!
To discover this specie, the boss, it is best to know that they come in all forms, shades and colours. Some are perennially caring, other are insolently aloof. Some are talkative, largely about how good they are, others are sculpted work of art, adorning office space. Some are open minded, others are barricaded by their inflated egos. Some are clear headed; others are a bowl of spaghetti. Some are daring, others are timid. Some have ‘all the time’; others have ‘no time’. Certainly all who work without exception have dealt with this highly limited list of boss characteristics, in their respective careers.
Are bosses leaders too? The answer is no. In everyday parlance they are taken synonymously which is totally incorrect. Leadership by any standard of definition does not require for the leader to be boss. All human history is replete where success that has been achieved by leaders who weren’t bosses. To be in lead no one has to be in the first row of life or be always under the spotlight of 1,000 watt light bulb.
In correlation the question that emerges is, do leaders have to be bosses? The answer is a limited yes; in some given situations. Army as an institution requires a defined chain of command and is therefore a case in point. The commander is the leader and boss of men.
Bosses, who possess these negative traits, bring the burden of their response and behaviour upon the institution and its employees. Being highly insecure they conspire to inspire a few of their ilk, to bring misery to the lives of their subordinates. They are usually scathing in their remarks, insulting and disrespectful. Such bosses and their cohorts encourage the prevalence of an environment of fear leading to decline in morale, attrition of valuable resource, downward trends in the long run upon the balance sheet and profit and loss account.
How does one become a boss? Or from where bosses emerge? In many a family operated business the process of inheritance, creates the boss; some rise through the hierarchy and by sheer dint of performance become bosses, others (this is the largest population of bosses) are self-styled who acquire the status by being corporate bullies. For this class the fountain head of power is their boss, who surrounds himself with normally incompetent ‘yes men’. This category can actually be of those who in an imperfect evaluation criteria rise to such positions by mere incompetence.
Bosses who are ‘mean’ mentally are not necessarily ‘lean’ physically. To the contrary, they are mostly fat- the bulge of extra flesh, is the ‘hidden’ armour that makes them thick skinned and hence such bosses develop an impregnable insulation to views of others besides being insensitive to the emotional needs of their staff, they supervise. They are devoid of empathy, a quality that is a distinctive feature between boss and leader.
Bosses can also emerge by being ‘raiders’ in the corporate ‘ark’. Any installed boss, who is mischievously intelligent, quickly recognizes the need to become naughty and haughty, ‘Robin hood’ and loses no time to induct his band of ‘merry men’. These ‘merry men’ or ‘band of cohorts’ do all the dirty work for the boss.
To cite the obvious characteristics and nature of such ‘mean men’ it is forgone to conclude they have to hate themselves; of course they are themselves oblivious to this development. In the process much damage is done to their own families and friends- neglect and abandon being predominant. Since the need to spy and seek information is so critical to their existence and position of closeness to the boss, they undertake the task with a dedicated sense of abandon to their closest associates, including the family.
These ‘merry men’ of the boss, are always exhibiting to him, how well meaning and good intentioned they are for the institution- infact the fallacy of this thought process is so overpowering on the mind that both the boss and his men and women actually start to believe that all their combined negativities are in essence the purest collection of positive streams that will eventually lead to the good of the organisation. Since this happens to any institution on a medium to long term scale of time; it is always discovered late, like any terminal illness! Nothing to human mind is more appealing than self-deception.
These ‘merry men’ damage not by direct word, but by way of insinuation- a damming punctuation between a conversation is their standard operating procedure.
Do we not come across everyday colleagues within an organisation who while asked to give opinion on others would rant all the good qualities of the person in question and would invariably qualify their remarks with the expression, ‘but…..’ and here would lie masked, hidden and veiled statement which would undo, dilute and prevail upon all the good aspects said earlier.
Can institutions rid themselves of such mean bosses and their army of ‘merry men’. No it is not possible to eliminate them in entirety. They have to be openly confronted and managed. By and large they are a coward lot and hence succumb quickly to direct confrontation. A mere silencing of one of these bosses or even the ‘merry men’ from the corporate Sherwood Forest will lead to the demise of such environment.
Hiring and only good hiring will create the right ethos in an organisation. A culture of merit can never be the nursery of producing ‘mean bosses’ and merry men. Avoid hiring person whose mantra of life is ‘yes’ is the answer what is the question? Corporate cannot afford to work like Islamabad. All corporate bullies must not be left alone, they must be dealt with!
The writer is a senior banker
