Shrinking the Camel
Bosses are getting a bad rap these days.
Despite the mammoth industry of motivational leadership advice glutting the bookshelves, most of the participants in our group writing project depicted their bossess as, um – how shall I put this? – narcissistic dopeheads. I don’t know where all that sage management advice is ending up, but it certainly isn’t trickling its way down to the many folks on the receiving end of things.
The “Bosses” writing prompt evoked a very entertaining and instructional crop of posts about, well, mostly bad bosses. There were stories of foul language, sordid affairs, selfish aloofness, cluelessness, drinking problems, embezzlement, paranoia, and one hilarious account of cubicle stalking. All of which make for the ingredients of a good sitcom. Except this was real life.
I suppose if we had prompted bloggers to post something on “Leaders” or “Managers,” these terms would have inspired more uplifting stories, offering role models of hope and courage. But the word “boss” somehow dredges up the opposite: primal images of oppression, bullying, and mean-spiritedness. And apparently there is far too much of that still actually going on out there.
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Photo by nAncY.
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