Servant Leadership Workplace-Boss

May We Call You Boss?

How do you feel when you hear the word boss?

If you hear a verb (“to boss around”), you might feel a bit defensive.

If you are old enough to remember when boss was a popular adjective (“that ’66 Corvette is boss”), you might smile.

If you are a Bruce Springsteen (“The Boss”) fan, you might even burst out into song.

How about as a noun? Is boss a term of endearment for you? Or is it the opposite?

In my experience, people are polarized about the word boss. Some love it. Some hate it.

Perhaps you can think of a great supervisor who, while holding a higher position in the managerial hierarchy, viewed you more as a partner, peer or protégé. While technically your “superior,” that person never sought to make you feel inferior.

Of course if you experienced a supervisor who treated you as an inferior, then you probably don’t much like the word boss.

For me, the boss label is neutral; boss behavior is what counts.

I can think of a few supervisors we called boss over the years. They were great servant-leaders. We applied boss to them as a term of endearment.

So, I make a distinction between good bosses and bad bosses.

Indeed, I find it unhelpful to say that “a boss does this . . .” and “a leader does that . . .”

In my view, the so-called boss can be a leader if she acts like a leader. The two terms – boss and leader – are not mutually exclusive.

What do you think? Do you agree with me that the boss label is neutral; boss behavior is what counts? How is the word boss used in your corporate culture? May we call you boss?

Let us know.

As always, we appreciate your views.

That’s all for now. `Cause tramps like us, baby we were born to run.*

Thanks!

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*  In a fun article about nicknames, the BBC reported:

The defiantly blue-collar Springsteen, meanwhile, dislikes his moniker, The Boss.

“In the early days when he and the E-Street Band played gigs in small venues, it was Bruce’s job to collect the money and pay the rest of the band,” says [nickname expert Andrew] Delahunty. “This led them to start calling him The Boss, a nickname which has stuck.”

“I hate bosses,” Springsteen has complained since. “I hate being called the Boss.”

While he may dislike the moniker, there is little argument that the fans (this blog author included) refer to  Springsteen as The Boss with great affection and respect.