Good Boss, Bad Boss – Chapter 1

Good Boss, Bad Boss by Robert Sutton – Chapter 1

Right Mindset

(1) Don’t Crush the Bird

Best Bosses are rated average on terms like competitive, aggressive, passive and submissive by followers.

Are you constantly thinking about and trying to walk the most constructive line between being too assertive and not assertive enough?

Or are you neglecting to give people the guidance, wisdom, and feedback they need to succeed? Worst yet, are you obsessively monitoring and micromanaging every move they make?

(2) Grit Gets You There

Great bosses instil grit in followers. They are dogged and patient, pressing themselves and others to move ever forward. Gritty bosses create urgency without treating life as one long emergency.

Gritty bosses are driven by the nagging conviction that everything they and their people do could be better if they tried just a little harder or were just a bit more creative. This nagging conviction that nothing is ever quite good enough, that you can never stop learning and never ever rest on your laurels.

Do you treat the work you lead as a marathon or a sprint – are you dogged and patient, pressing yourself and your people ever forward? Or do you look for instant cures, treat life as one emergency after another, and give (or disappear) when the going gets tough?

(3) Small Wins are the Path

Best bosses break down problems into bite-sized pieces and talk and act like each little task is something that people can complete without great difficulty. Doing so instils calmness and confidence, and spurs constructive action.

Do you frame what your people need to accomplish as a series of small, realistic and not overly difficult steps? Or do you usually propose grand goals and strategies without helping people to break them into bite-sized pieces?

(4) Beware the Toxic Tandem

Good bosses never forget how closely their followers watch them, and they resist the urge to grab all the goodies for themselves and ignore their followers’ feelings and needs.

Do you remind yourself that your people are watching you very closely – and do you act accordingly to avoid doing little things that undermine their performance and dignity? Or are you oblivious to this intense scrutiny and rarely (if ever) think about how the little things you do and say will be magnified in your followers’ minds?

(5) Got Their Backs

Effective bosses protect their people.

Do you see your job as caring for and protecting your people, and fighting for them when necessary? Or do you consider it too much trouble to advocate for resources they need or too personally risky to battle idiocy from on high? When your people screw up, do you take the heat or hang them to dry? When you screw up, do you admit it or point the finger of blame at your innocent underlings?

Performance and Humanity

Great bosses work relentlessly toward two general kinds of goals – performance and humanity.

Performance Does the boss do everything possible to help people do great work? The ultimate judgement about the quality and quantity of the work is best made by outsiders rather than insiders. Great bosses and their followers produce work that consistently meets or exceeds the expectations of those who use and evaluate it. Regardless of local jargon and metrics, a boss’s job is “to eliminate people’s excuses for failure.”

Humanity Does the boss do everything possible to help people experience dignity and pride? A boss’s humanity is usually best judged by insiders, especially followers. Working with dignity means “taking actions that are worthy of respect by oneself and others”. Dignity enables people to travel through their days feeling upbeat and respected.