The Breed called Boss

I know I take a rest too long between my blogs....this is the time taken to draw inspiration from the surroundings. Alas!!! my friends have become too lazy to read and appreciate. Feedback to a writer is what oxygen is to flora ")

I was taking a briefing of my team the other day when I stopped short of dousing their enthusiastic ideas with my words of caution and logic. Woila....I was doing what my last boss would do. Nothing wrong but I stepped into my old shoes for a while. A subordinate's job is to generate.....ideas, suggestions, creativity. Assimilation is an art of a senior. That's how bonsais are cultivated for all I know. A dwarfed mind has little use in corporates. Let it grow, develop branches and then clip the useless ones but chance....given good.

I have been blessed to work with some of the best bosses. The breed encompassing all who have ever bossed me......isn't that what they all do...BOSS, BOSS and BOSS. From power players to spineless cowards,  told you, I have been LUCKY. The trick is easy - Yes Sir, No Sir. For all one can do is save wisdom for future when they join the gang.

There was one partial to his regulations to the extent of fanaticism. Result....a new one would replace the old every fortnight. It was akin to watching a fast paced suspense where you miss a few precious moments and forsake the entire lead. An associate returning from a week long vacation would have a full length scripture waiting for him to learn afresh.

Then there was one who was just concerned with making work a living hell. Presume he had a tie up with god to advertise the same on earth. The commision thing!!! No amount of logic, caution helped. It was as good as paying for the sins of past life. The theory of Karma....where my account was credited with his repentences too. But I loved it......'love the hand you can't bite'.

I did my training under a classic specimen. He was a product of Indian opposition in legislature. Oppose he would all and propose none. To top it all every refusal of his was marked by a Atal Beharied pause which was eternal. I recently learned he got an award for the best creative head in the group. No wonder none of our ideas were approved. This is characteristic of many bosses. Stealing credits. But fear not O subordinate for thou happiness is preserved under the sheath.

Knowledge is power, and power corrupts. I had one who took this to his heart. He would keep information safe in Brunie Sultan's vault. Result.....you swim and drown. Come out only to drown again.

There were heaps of others and I learnt the following under them

• Planning to call it a day...hold on, the boss has just begun.
• A pat on back calls for two on butt
• Keep your boss's boss off your boss's back (Use this with caution...you are loaning the fury of two bosses. May thy soul rest in peace)
• Request list of a boss is bigger than universe
• You might have a verdict of your own...just that it is eternally stupid
• To err is you, to forgive..forget it
• You are responsible for all things that go wrong. Is quitting an option!!! You will be all the more responsible.
• It is your moral resposibility to be a friend in need to to your boss's family. Only when they need someone to hold their shopping bags or drive them to finest restaurants.
• Give your boss one compliment daily. It won't make things easier. Play human. Gandhi said an eye for an eye makes the world blind. He will one day wake up to all of them and throw you out for being a 'chamcha'

I am sure there are more....but I want to save some exclusively for me, I still have a boss to work for. Boss is a breed that was meant to be. God wanted to give competition to devils and he could not have directly done so hence the coinage...BOSS.
For all us lesser humans out here get bossed. If YES can make life simple then don't say no to it. Result....we all live happily ever after.