Posted on: 07/17/2022 @ 10:25 PM
I have accepted an offer which is putting me back into a lead role. I seem to gravitate towards management or management-type roles. I have been doing it since 2005ish when I became Assistant Lead at Fleetwood. But this new role will be something completely different and it has me thinking about the type of leader that I am and the type of leader that I want to be. It also has made me think of all the bosses I have had in my life. Some were great. Some were horrendous. Most were meh.
I know if you Google "Types of Bosses," you will be given a plethora of results. But I want to talk about the styles that I have dealt with and what I want to be.
This boss is just a megaphone for the company. While this boss may care about their subordinates, the true care is in getting a paycheck and probably climbing the ladder. This type of boss just wants to look good to the superiors. They instill no confidence and will burn through people.
This boss just wants to be everyone's friend. This person tends to care a lot for their subordinates... think of Micheal Scott. While this boss can be fun and great for new workers, they too instill no confidence and will annoy the crap out of you.
I call this type of boss "Peter" because they are living proof of the Peter Principle. This boss was a helluva worker in their previous role(s) and was promoted accordingly. The problem is they were promoted past the point of being good. The role is over their head and they are drowning. This boss is awful to work for because everything is always in disarray.
This is blunt and applies to many different types of bosses. The micromanager. The narcissist. The take-credit-for-everything boss. Name any type of negative boss that makes you angry and this is that boss. This type of boss will cause employees to burn out fast and hard. The Asshole and Peter tend to overlap too. Maybe being a Peter puts so much stress on a person and they just snap, I dunno but it sucks. Either way... if you have a boss that is this, run. RUN FAR! They will stomp you down and make you hate everything and make you feel bad for wanting to leave.
I call this type a boss but they aren't a boss. They are a leader. They instill confidence. They show you how it's done. If they don't know, they will find someone who does. They will lift you and protect you. They will let grow so you can fly. When it hits the fan, they are on the front line. They continually work on making things better. A leader!
These are boiled down to the minimum that I can think of right now. And I know most want to be the Leader but truth is, most aren't. I want to be one and that's what I'll strive for. I don't know if I'm a Peter but I have always felt like one. But I try to stay clear of the line that leads into the worst of the worst...