Decades ago I asked a client who had a reputation for being a great boss what was the worst part of his job.

I’ve never forgotten his response.

“That’s easy. I don’t mind shoveling my own, but I hate having to shovel somebody else’s.”

Not only was he correct, but I’ve never met anyone, boss or not, who didn’t agree with the statement.

Shoveling someone else’s often happens when an iffy/bad boss/person leaves and the new boss/person finds their first X weeks spent cleaning up the mess.

It’s not unexpected.

When the culture is the mess there is not only more to shovel, but far more damage to correct—damaged morale, damaged group reputation and, worst of all, damaged people.

Damaged through no fault of their own.

So if you find yourself shoveling someone else’s be sure to look for the buried people as you do it.

They are often the true gems your predecessor was too blind to see.

Flickr image credit: Tambako The Jaguar

Ask people what they do in private and you’ll probably hear far more detail than you want, but ask what they earn and they’ll either freak out at the question or be very insulted.

What they probably won’t do is tell you.

Sex used to be personal, but these days it is often broadcast to anyone who will listen, but not finances—although older workers are less likely to discuss either of them.

Companies are even more paranoid about keeping salaries confidential—sharing compensation information is a firing offense in many of them.

Usually, the more a company insists that the numbers are private the more likely people are to assume that something is rotten—or unfair.

After all, gossip tends to exaggerate things. Professor Lawler says studies show that when pay is confidential, workers often believe the salary distributions are more unfair than they really are.

That’s why Dane Atkinson, chief executive of SumAll, a data analytics company, does things differently.

When he helped found the company about three years ago, a decision was made to disclose all salaries and equity shares. (…) “In this way, more money goes not to those who negotiate better, but those who work the hardest,” he said. The people who resist making salaries more transparent, he said, “are usually those who think they’re making too much.”

The other people who resist are the bosses who are playing games with compensation.

You know, the ones who make the lowest offers possible and/or play favorites.

Compensation, whether salary or stock, should make sense to everyone; it should be plausible and accurately reflect the person’s contribution to the company’s success—not their charm, personality, looks or threats to leave.

Flickr image credit: Derek Keats

Do you like your boss?

Or do you love your boss?

Obviously, the global staff at online luxury fashion retailer Net-APorter loves theirs.

The company was founded in 2000 and MARK Sebba joined in 2003—not the best of times for the dot com world.

During Sebba’s 11 years as CEO Net-APorter grew to €550m sales last year, 2,500 people and a valuation around €2.5bn

When he stepped down from that role the end of July his people found an amazing way to show their feelings.

The comments at YouTube are pretty cynical; saying that he must have known about the tribute, etc., but that’s not really the point.

Watch the faces of the staff and you’ll see emotion that can’t be faked.

Whether he knew or not, his staff’s feelings are very real.

YouTube credit: Diagonal View

These days, the executive position most fraught with the danger of Internet blood-letting, not to mention being fired, is that of CISO (chief information security officer) as this joke making the rounds confirms.

A new security officer who meets his predecessor, who hands him three numbered envelopes and tells him to open them in an emergency. After a breach, the new security officer opens the first envelope. The message reads, Blame your predecessor. After a second breach, he opens the second, which suggests, Blame your staff. After a third breach, the security officer opens the third envelope. The message reads, Prepare three envelopes.

Although the joke can be fatuous or ironic depending on your situation, the advice isn’t new; it’s what bosses have been doing for centuries.

Not just bosses, but workers, too.

It’s called not taking responsibility—blame others and when that doesn’t work leave for a different venue and do it again.

In short, bad bosses/workers blame others.

Good bosses/workers take responsibility and change/fix their actions.

Which are you?

Flickr image credit: Ilovebeingmema

Most everyone who is at all involved with tech is aware that Tom Preston-Werner, founder and former CEO of GitHub, resigned over harassment charges; the complaints included actions by his wife, Theresa Preston-Werner.

In short, people felt pressured by her to contribute time/energy/knowledge pro bono to her own startup.

While they were cleared in the investigation, Theresa posted an apology that included the following.

I was the wife of the CEO, but that never entered my mind when I hung out with any GitHubbers.

That blind spot was my mistake. In my enthusiasm over my project, and my idealistic belief in the status-free community of GitHub, I failed to recognize that power structures cannot ever be obscured entirely. It’s a powerful lesson, and a mistake I will not repeat.

What the Preston-Werners learned the hard way is that bosses aren’t like the rest of us and the higher you are on the totem pole the more weight your words carry.

The following post dates to 2006, but it’s just as true now as then and I seriously doubt it will change in the future.

For Bosses, No Such Thing as “Casual”

Bosses can’t make casual comments because nothing is casual when it’s coming from “the boss.” In fact, “casual comment” in juxtaposition with “boss” is positively oxymoronic!

This is especially true when the boss in question is the CEO/president/owner. Quick story:

A CEO, who started as an engineer, casually remarked to a group of designers that he didn’t think the circuit design they were doing would work.

He said this while taking a shortcut though the department, and with no in-depth knowledge of the project or previous discussions. Just an off-the-cuff comment based on his own design experience—which was a couple of decades old.

The design group then told the engineering VP that they needed to rethink the entire design because the CEO had said it wouldn’t work.

The engineering VP first convinced her team that the design was fine and to go ahead (not an easy sell); she then told her boss (the CEO) to quit talking to the engineers and stay out of the department, since this wasn’t the first time this had happened.

The CEO agreed, although he couldn’t understand the problem, all he’d made was a casual comment. Obviously, he couldn’t know as much as the design team since he’s been out of engineering for many years and they should have understood that.

Stories such as this happen in every industry, every day. The unusual parts here are that, one, the VP said something and, two, the CEO actually listened.

The no casual comment rule applies at all levels in any company. If you have leverage, your comments carry weight to those below you—the more leverage, the more weight.

I hope bosses everywhere take this to heart, since few underlings are comfortable telling the person who can fire them to, essentially, shut up.

Flickr image credit: GDS Productions

Many in the business world turn to Sun Tzu’s Art of War for guidance in their business dealings and as a basis for their company’s culture.

However, I’ve always preferred the teachings of Lao Tzu to underpin culture, because they provide a more solid platform to attract, motivate and retain the best people for any organization.

My favorite quote describes the perfect mindset and behavior for any boss who wants to be known as a leader.

As for the best leaders,
the people do not notice their existence.

The next best,
the people honor and praise.

The next, the people fear;
and the next, the people hate—

When the best leader’s work is done,
the people say, “We did it ourselves!”

To lead the people, walk behind them.
                                             –Lao Tzu

In case you’re not sure how to put that into practice, Lao Tzu offers this advice.

Be gentle and you can be bold; be frugal and you can be liberal; avoid putting yourself before others and you can become a leader among men.

Image credit: Wikipedia

What kind of boss/colleague/subordinate are you?

Does William Butler Yeats’s line “The best lack all conviction, while the worst / Are full of passionate intensity,” fit you?

Sounds like a bad thing, but actually it’s a great attitude to cultivate.

Look at the two parts separately.

Let’s take the second part first; I believe “while the worst / Are full of passionate intensity” refers to people who espouse a certain approach or methodology so emphatically that nothing sways them that there may be a better way or even that a different method will accomplish the same thing.

“The best lack all conviction” could be taken to mean being totally wish-washy with no firm beliefs, but taken together with the second part I think it means being open to new ideas/approaches.

In other words, the first is open to learning and the second is a ‘my way or the highway’ type.

Who would you rather work with?

If you want the first, be sure not to model the second.

Flickr image credit: Tom Henrich

I’ve worked with hundreds of bosses and entrepreneurs over the years and there are two concepts I do my best to indoctrinate them with.

The first is a basic principle without which you can’t lead.

• Leadership outside-the-box starts inside your head.

The second is a corollary and acts as a guide anytime change is necessary.

• To change what they do, change how you think.

The point is that every boss in every organization at every level will lead/manage based on the way they think, what they think, how they think, and what they believe.

In other words, they will be guided by their MAP.

So if a boss wants her people to think/act/do things differently, then the way to accomplish that is for the boss to change first.

Flickr image credit: svilen001

Bosses are pretty vocal in describing what they want from their teams, but what do bosses owe their teams in return?

Entire books have been written to answer that question, but the words of E.E. Cummings offer a more succinct response.

“It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are…”

Bosses owe their people an environment that fosters the courage and provides the room to grow.

And they owe them that even when what they become doesn’t fit the boss’ future needs.

Flickr image credit: Oregon Department of Forestry

What happens when a normally ethical person is told to “fix it” by a person in authority?

Research shows that most people put a high priority on following orders from authority figures, a trait that is cultivated and rewarded in families, schools, churches, the military and the workplace… “As human beings, we are predisposed to be obedient to authority, no matter how malevolent it may be,” said Edward Soule, an associate professor at the McDonough School of Business at Georgetown who has a Ph.D. in philosophy and focuses on the intersection of morality and management.

What bosses at every level need to recognize is the effect their position has on those below them.

Not only recognize, but understand the impact and the possibly disastrous results that can come from trying to comply.

It’s not necessarily an implied “or else” that gets them, but the implied “whatever it takes” coupled with that human predisposition that gets them in trouble—and can take the whole company down with them.

Quote the above to most managers and they’ll equate authority with the CEO and other executives, but not with themselves.

However, ask workers about authority and they usually start with their immediate boss.

Stock.xchng image credit: ugaldew