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It’s About the Boss; It’s Not About You

A good test of trust is whether one does what’s right when the boss isn’t there. Another good test is representing the boss in a way he or she would be proud of.

As someone who competes first and foremost against himself, I don’t find these tough tests. Over the years, when the boss wasn’t in the office because he was on business travel, I conducted myself as if he were watching my every move. Why? Because it was about the boss and what I knew were his standards and expectations. It was not about me, his assistant.

The boss is not the boss just because there was no other person to appoint to the position. In a perfect world, the boss occupies that chair because he or she has earned the right to lead others. If the boss does this well, he or she will command the respect and loyalty of subordinates.

As Jack Welch says in his bestselling leadership book Winning, success is achieved by leaders who are known for their knowledge, self-confidence, fairness, initiative, influence, self-control, decisiveness, dignity, courage, and integrity. The very best leaders have strategic vision, core values, and obtainable objectives. They know how to delegate responsibility but not ultimate responsibility.

Not all bosses meet such high standards. During my first tour in Vietnam as an infantry captain, I was assigned as a member of an eight-man advisory team. We were stationed in a fairly remote area of what was known as II Corps. We lived, ate, and fought alongside our South Vietnamese counterparts. The senior advisor of the team was a major. I was his deputy. The others included a first lieutenant and five enlisted men ranging in rank from master sergeant to corporal.

About once a month our boss, the major, would assemble us for his version of admonishment. He would tell us we were not being active enough on combat operations. More patrols, more ambushes, more time in the field with our counterparts, he would demand. After each dressing-down, he would disappear to the room in which he lived in our quarters, which was a French-era house. Not bad digs except for the lack of running water.

In response to his orders, we would head to the field; he would not. Granted, he was getting pressure from the next higher headquarters to do more, but he set a poor example with his stay-at-home actions.

Morale was bad; attitudes among members of the team toward him were not healthy. I found that part of my job as the number two was to keep heads held high, keep them actively engaged in operations, and remind them who the boss was.

Ironically, on a night when the major did go out on a combat patrol with two other members of the advisory team and a South Vietnamese unit, those of us who stayed back in our quarters came under attack by the Viet Cong. He missed all the action, and the laugh was on him.

I, for one, learned many lessons from this advisory team experience. Certainly we all learned how not to lead, how not to manage, how not to inspire others to follow. Through it all, I never forgot that the boss was the boss even if he wasn’t the best of leaders. It wasn’t about us as individual members of the team. It wasn’t about me as a soldier. It was in this case that the major called the shots. Sometimes you can learn much from things that others do poorly so that you will not replicate their bad behavior.

There’s an old expression that people only do things that the boss inspects or checks. Wouldn’t life be better if we did more than what was expected? Even better, wouldn’t it be nice to complete more tasks and go above and beyond when the boss is away?

Life in the workplace would be best if every boss were an authentic leader, one who not only inspired those around him or her to do their best but brought people together around a shared purpose. If all bosses had a set of strong and true values, they would motivate all the people around them to be the best they could be.

To achieve such success a boss must continually build and upgrade the team. He or she must set an example for others to follow.