An open letter to my former bosses

THANK YOU! You have made me a successful and confident man. You triggered anxiety, made me feel inferior and belittled me in front of my family, friends and strangers but you also taught me how not to do business;

When people ask why I’m so passionate about workplace health and safety, I can explain that when I was a teenager my boss caused a situation that resulted in me lying beneath the unsecured shelves of a cool-room with a subsequent long-term lower back problem.

When people query me over the importance of objectivity in internal recruitment practices, I detail the time when my boss’s son was installed as my supervisor despite having little experience and even fewer social skills.

I can explain the importance of positive and respectful business relationships between managers and staff by reminiscing about how I felt when the area manager would look at the wall above my head while he spoke to me rather than actually face me.

The managers who sent their most junior team member to conduct sixty redundancies and to shut down several branches of the business proved that inexperienced people are also capable of constructive and effective communication despite the difficult nature of those conversations.

Finally, the manager who moved his office to another branch rather than speak to me during my notice period demonstrated the value of maturity and the reality that, no matter how successful, some people just can’t handle rejection.

I’ve worked in retail, hospitality, construction, hire, not-for-profit, and IT … I’ve found some of the best and worst in all of them. I’ve been a director, a manager, an advisor, an apprentice, and a kitchen hand … seniority is so often based on a person’s ability to do their previous job rather than any intrinsic ability to take on more responsibility.

Your inability to do your job well made me excellent at mine. So, thank you.