Most of us have already experienced a boss from hell. If you haven’t, you eventually will. I’ve had lots of bad bosses and I meet quite a few in my line of work. Last month we looked at the 5 Bosses You’ll Meet in Hell. This month, we’ll devote posts describing great bosses AND give a remedy for following in their footsteps.
Our first boss? Francine The First. Our first boss!
I think all of us can think of a boss we saw as great. Sometimes it’s because they came after you experienced a particularly bad one. Sometimes though, it’s just because they were your first boss and did enough to make you feel important. That is the case with me.
In November of 1982, I was unemployed. After graduating dangerously near the bottom of my high school graduating class just a few months earlier, I attended a 6-month trade school learning how to be a dental lab technician. I was good at it, but unfortunately there were zero job openings in this field. Discouraged, I joined the Navy in their delayed entry program. That meant I had almost a year to wait before heading to boot camp and needed a job in the interim. Nobody was finding work. but fortunately, due to my mom’s ever-present truthfulness, I got a great opportunity.
My mom shopped at the nearby Ralph’s grocery store in Santa Ana, California. One day she got home from shopping only to find that she was undercharged a couple of dollars. She drove back to Ralph’s with her receipt and paid back the money. The store manager, Scott Lund, was so impressed, that he sent her a thank-you card and an invitation to pick any cake from the Ralph’s bakery. My mom, never one to turn down an good opportunity, asked the manager if there were any job openings for me. Now grocery store jobs pay pretty good and are very had to get. You have to know someone. Well, my mom now knew the manager and shortly after I got a job. It was working as the Morning Wrapper on the morning stock crew from 1 – 9AM . All I did was bust my ass picking up cardboard from the stock crew and cleaning up but it paid really well. And Mr. Lund looked after me.
This is a long story isn’t it?
Well about a month into the job, one of the morning clerks was goofing around with the morning janitor, pretending to sword-fight him with his box cutter, when he got too close and slashed him across the chest. He was fired on the spot.
And who was picked to replace him? At about $10.00 more per hour? For a job that would be highly fought over? And awarded union-style based on tenure?
I was. Due to Mr. Lund.
Scott Lund was a great boss. I’m not sure why he looked out for me but I believe I never let him down. I stayed at Ralph’s until it was time to leave for Navy bootcamp in December 1983. I almost decided to opt out of delayed entry to the Navy and stay at Ralph’s, but would have been too embarrassed to tell my family and friends. Not sure how my life would have gone had I done it. Looks like everything turned out the way it was supposed to!
Your first boss is often the best one. That is until you get a few bad ones and see what a REALLY good boss is. But Scott Lund earned his place in my Top 5 because he knew how to award ethical behavior and maybe because he wanted to see someone succeed.
If you’re now The Boss, how can you cement yourself as someone’s greatest boss?
- Define what you stand for. What are your values? What’s your philosophy about workers? How do you make your decisions.
- Determine how you want to be remembered. Nobody wants to be the Worst Boss Ever. They just end up there. If you want to be the Best Boss Ever, intentionally work at it!
- Remember that you might be somebody’s first boss. You are the new yardstick to be measured against. Are you setting a positive, high standard?
Being a great boss isn’t hard if you make it your goal to be one. Why not decide today to make it your goal?