You are the Boss or are you?

There is a notion about Bosses. A boss needs to be a boss. The word boss carries with it some weight that needs to be justified by the person wearing those boots. Sometimes it may drown the person carrying the title but what do I know, I have never been a boss, so whatever I write here is either a figment of my imagination or will lightly be based upon what I have seen in the environment around me.

I think a lot of people who get to be the boss create these containers of quality that they think they should be able to slide in.

When one identifies somebody as a Boss, the perceived impression is of somebody who is charismatic, who stands out, who if put in a room will have people roaming around him, who will know what decisions to take, who will be making a lot of money, who has answers to all the questions, who others can idolize, who just has it all.

But But But. (such a good line, wow!)

The way you as an individual create a container for a boss will differ immensely in comparison to someone who comes from a different office culture. Like the above placeholder, somebody else may think of a boss to be a rude person with a tummy, an insensitive human, somebody who doesn't give respect, somebody who thinks himself to be above all, somebody who doesn't know the amazing work their subordinates are doing, somebody who takes credit, who never shares it with his team, someone away, someone completely obnoxious.

All of this and in between is a result of the workplace a person is at. If you were able to check all the boxes from the first placeholder, congratulations you probably have an amazing human at the helm. But at the same time, let me break it to you that you have a wrong understanding of your boss. Wrong, because you failed to recognize that your container is very ambitious (read a lot if not full of shit). Congratulations, because this is eye opening.

If you were able to check all the boxes from the second placeholder of a boss, congratulations again. Your boss is shitty. Jump ship now.

If you ask me about my container of a boss, it would be something like this, someone who is vulnerable yet courageous, someone who makes a lot of mistakes, someone who is afraid of taking difficult decisions but takes them anyways, someone who if put in a room with other people may not be the most happening person, someone who listens to his gut, someone who has clarity of thoughts, someone who is not biased, someone whose ultimate motivation lies in the interest of the people, someone who is not threatened by his subordinates, someone who is a human first, a machine later, someone with a lot of kindness, someone who is for people first, someone who can listen, someone who believes in chances but at the same time, someone who can call out bullshit when he sees a pattern, someone who can call out wrong in front of all, someone who doesn't use secrecy as an excuse to not maintaining enough transparency, someone who can show doors to those who don't fall in line with the ultimate vision, someone who is as weak as a human, someone who is as strong as a human.

(Wow weak as a human, strong as a human, does that make sense?)

A lot of times, because of the bonds we have with the our colleagues, it becomes difficult to call them out when they do something that does not go with our vision & with our long term goals, those are the times when one needs to take the difficult road and communicate right. In Martin Luther King Jr's words,

Similarly, A leader's skills are not tested at times of happiness when everything is as smooth as a calm sea, it's tested when things go wrong, when volcanoes erupt & when land shakes, when the people making mistakes are connected to you beyond your professional space.

Do you as a leader have the courage to call out the wrong your close ones are doing? Do you as a leader have the strength to take the difficult decisions that may have an impact on your short term profits (of any kind) but are needed to maintain the sanctity of your long term vision? Are you the boss to all or a boss to few and friends to the other few?