Bad Bosses Are The Best Teachers

Over my career, I’ve had many bosses (And I still do! Hi VP Karl!) My best bosses were the ones that pushed me way, way out of my comfort zone (Eliza), empowered me and trusted my judgement (Kyle) and toughened me up (Bolaji). They were amazing bosses and I’m appreciative for their role in moulding me BUT some of my strongest lessons came from the bad bosses. From them, I learned what not to do and how not to be and for that I’m grateful.

There was the boss who used her looks to get everything she wanted. I watched her flirt and speak in a baby voice when she was talking to men she wanted something from and she was never held accountable. On the contrary, she was constantly rewarded. A couple of years later, she had a new boss who happened to be a woman. Of course, none of those things worked anymore and she was gone a few months later.

I had another boss who lied constantly and never listened to anyone else and loved to micromanage. I found it difficult to work with someone I couldn’t trust and clearly didn’t trust me to do my job. So did many others. We ended up losing lots of talented people and the business ultimately suffered for this.

My lessons from these bad bosses: Be transparent and honest. Listen to others. Looks will get you so far but they won’t get you everywhere.

So if you have a boss that’s really terrible, don’t forget to thank them 😊 and for those that have really amazing bosses, don’t forget to thank them too!

What are the lessons you’ve learned from your bosses along the way? To read more about learning from your bosses, read this really interesting article here