Which Boss Do You Like?

At your job you have two bosses. Boss A and Boss B. There are a few other random bosses, but these are the two to whom you must report.

Boss A is a nice guy. He wants to get the job done and believes in getting input from everyone on the team. Even if he doesn't like your idea, he thanks you for your participation and explains to you why your proposal doesn't work. He's a smart guy and likes to mentor others so that they can grow their skills. When he criticizes employees, he does so in a way that inspires them to work harder, never speaking in a condescending tone.

Boss B is an asshole. He belittles people when they don't meet deadlines, he calls them stupid when he doesn't like their ideas and he does not care if the employees are happy at their jobs or not. There is a job to be done and he wants it done his way, without him needing to explain it, or you're out. He is smart, his way is the right way and your opinions are irrelevant.

We lawyers have an abundance of B's. The law tends to attract a lot of arrogant, self-righteous assholes to the profession. Excuse my language, but there really is no polite way to say it. And I have worked with the spectrum of them. Fortunately, I have worked with more A's than B's, but even one Boss B is enough to make work miserable.

My first week as a lawyer, I was given an assignment from a partner who went to Harvard and thinks that people who didn't go to Harvard are not worthy of being in his presence. I was told to review a plaintiff's discovery requests and draft as many objections as were arguably applicable. So, I went to work and drafted a boatload of objections. When we reviewed my work, he chuckled at my stupidity for overobjecting; he lectured me on how much it angers judges to see too many objections and sent me to do another revision, with the guidance "try thinking next time." I finished the work, returned it and never spoke to him again. Until he needed something. A last minute court appearance came up and he needed someone to cover it because he had a conflict. Although I had very little to do that day, I apologized profusely for being swamped with work and gleefully declined the opportunity to save his ass.

Later in practice, I helped a partner prepare for trial. She asked me to write a motion that had no law supporting it. I told her there was no legal basis, that it really made no sense and that I was having a hard time writing an argument I did not believe. She bad-mouthed me to the rest of the partners for being stupid, not paying attention and refusing to follow orders. Needless to say, she ended up writing the motion, which not only lost, but the judge sanctioned her $1,000 for making a frivolous argument. The judge ended up sanctioning the client on five different occasions for frivolous motions from that partner.

Contrast those experiences with an A boss with whom I worked. I prepared a legal brief for him and he called me into his office to discuss it. "You have great ideas", he told me, "but your writing is unorganized and lacks precision." I really respected the guy so I was devastated. Not because my work was bad, but because I felt like I let him down. For the next hour, we discussed the art of legal writing, he shared similar mistakes he had made and what he learned from them and offered to review all motions I wrote. A few months later, he received a last minute motion from the plaintiffs in a case that required immediate attention. Even though I was busy on other cases, I volunteered to pull an all-nighter with him to make sure he was prepared for court the next day. I am a smarter, better lawyer because of him and we are friends to this day.

My personal story is applicable to any industry. You build up people by teaching them, setting an example and instilling confidence rather than by demeaning them and stunting their growth. When you treat people with respect, they will be loyal to you forever. As the old adage goes, you can sweeten better with honey than with vinegar.

On the politics front, the Republican party has become Boss B. No one respects you, no one listens to you and your beligerence is alienating even the most loyal supporters. Boss B's destroy companies by running out talented people who refuse to be treated disrespectfully. Boss B's dedicate inordinate amounts of energy on blame games instead of learning from lessons. They are the ultimate finger-pointing buck passers.

Anyone who has worked a day in her life has worked for a Boss B -- and wanted to quit the job because of it. If you wouldn't work for a Boss B, why would you vote for one?