Find your inner superboss and help your employees succeed!
If you have ever worked at a big company then you’ve probably experience coworkers talking behind their boss’s back throughout the breaks. However, in real life, it’s quite difficult to be a decent boss.
When you’re in a leadership position then, at times, you are required to make difficult choices and staff won’t always agree with the choices that you make. It’s just common knowledge that a boss is hardly ever liked at a company. However, on occasion, a few bosses are able to inspire their staff even though they are hard on them or challenging.
What unique qualities describe a “superboss” and what are you able to learn from the superbosses out in the world? The next paragraphs will outline everything that you need to know in order to become a “superboss”.
You’ll find out:
- How to become an “inglorious bastard” in your work environment
- How come Larry Ellison’s managerial success what actually established on disdain
- Why flexibility within the workplace has absolutely nothing to do with being able to touch your toes
Superbosses come in three shades: iconoclasts, inglorious bastards and nurturers.
How are iconoclasts and “inglorious bastards” alike? Both of them are different types of “superbosses”. Every kind has their own advantage and both of them are able to encourage their staff in various ways.
Let’s begin with iconoclasts. Their consistent focus on their vision is how you can easily identify them. Their capability to be able to teach and share is a spot-on effect of their kind of consistent dedication. In summary, iconoclasts encourage without even intentionally trying to do so.
The Jazz great, Miles Davis, for instance, had worked with young musicians in order to keep his creativity going. Although he wasn’t focusing on helping out the youth enhance their skills, he is still notorious for being one of the best teachers.
Inglorious bastards, on the contrary, are defined by their push to win. They strive for greatness and will do whatever that they need to in order to get there, regardless of if they have to push people out of the way to do so.
In order to reach those kinds of goals, though, inglorious bastards have to have the best support team possible. Their staff are propelled to perform to the best of their abilities as failing isn’t an option. Through that, workers are able to learn lots.
Inglorious bastards are able to drive their teams to their limits. Larry Ellison, the founder of Oracle, is notorious for managing based on disdain. He had scared his staff in order to propel them towards success. Although that type of strategy seems a bit barbaric, it did work at Oracle. Ellison was even recently nominated by the magazine, BusinessWeek, as one of the top competitive professionals in the industry.
On the other hand, nurturers are the type of bosses that actually care and really want to see their staff grow. They are also called activist bosses. They are always prepared to lead their staff to make sure that they do well.
Norman Brinker, a star restaurateur, was notorious for his nurturing management style. He truly loved to watch his staff get better and today, eighteen of his previous staff are heads of leading restaurant chains.
Therefore, how can every kind of superboss take your career up a notch? Keep reading to find out how.
Every superboss has a clear, bold vision, is brutally competitive and fears nothing.
In order to run a flexible and successful company, a superboss has to have these three main qualities: vision, fearlessness, as well as competitiveness.
Those kinds of qualities aren’t only things that a superboss get throughout their career, but rather it comes naturally to them and plays a huge role in who a superboss actually is.
Where you may see an issue or an obstacle, a superboss sees an answer or an opportunity to be innovative. That kind of skills is exactly what makes a superboss a visionary kind of person.
The fashion icon, Ralph Lauren, is the definition of a visionary, claims former colleague, Marty Staff. When the both of them would have dinner with one another, they would never talk business. On the contrary, they would talk about their goals and aspirations. “He would construct this world and then he would simply fill in the blanks,” Staff said.
Superbosses also can’t be afraid. Although this is easier said than done, the majority of superbosses follow this characteristic even outside of their work environment.
Larry Ellison, the Oracle founder, is fond of racing sailboats. Restaurateur Norman Brinker had a passion for playing polo up until the moment that he also died during a match. Robert Noyce, the Intel co-founder enjoyed sprinting through Bali’s streets throughout monsoon season. He even wore a jacket regularly with the words, “No guts, no glory.”
Lastly, superbosses live for competition. They look out for it, make it, and they take advantage of it. Michael Milken, the previous American financier and philanthropist, was notorious for his role in the creation of junk bonds and also remembered for his competitiveness by his former college roommate. Milken would often time himself when he did chores, looking for new ways to enhance his performance and do it quicker.
Those three qualities are what help make up the point of view of a superboss. However, in order to be a real superboss, there’s still a whole lot more to it.
The magnetic charisma of a superboss is based on an individual’s integrity and authenticity.
What’s the difference between those with a charismatic personality and those with a personality that is forgotten with ease?
Superbosses have this something that makes a kind of vortex around them; a personality that sucks people in, motivating, and encouraging them. That “something” often times is integrity and uniqueness.
Superbosses display their integrity by sticking to their real vision. They aren’t scared to stand up for what they think is right and they offer every percent to the cause.
The conductor at a Viennese music festival, Jorma Panula, has often rebuffed the arrogance and egotism within his industry, which is very unlike the majority of his generation. On the contrary, Panula is well-known for his consistent focus on how quality his music is as well as the experience of the listener.
Uniqueness is yet another characteristic that makes a superboss a person that you’d like to be. They aren’t scared of showing their real personalities at work and the don’t feel like they have to sell themselves in a particular way. On the other hand, superbosses let you get to know them at a personal level, regardless of what it is that you want to know.
Just by being themselves, superbosses are unforgettable, charming, and always unique.
The founder of Hospital Corporate of America (HCA), Tommy Frist, is remembered by as staff member as a family man. Throughout business trips, many times he’d write letters to his kids in college. Frist was always very excited about talking about his family and it was quite obvious that he was very proud of his kids.
The senior vice president of HCA even remembers how Frist would come by his office in order to talk about his son’s football game that upcoming week.
Now let’s see how superbosses are work in the office with staff members.
Superbosses are looking for employees who “get it,” demonstrating intelligence and creativity.
Superbosses do want the best for themselves, especially when it comes to hiring staff. In a nutshell, they are looking for those who “get it.”
What does that mean exactly? A superboss looks for people that are smart, creative, and nimble.
Intelligence is a main priority for superbosses when hiring since smart staff member is acts as a stimulant in effective collaboration, competition, as well as creativity inside of a team. Those in a smart team are able to provide equally to larger goals without being scared of the “slower” members holding them back.
Ralph Lauren was always looking out for staff with a “fashion intelligence.” Each staff member has to have a keen sense of style, regardless of the department that they worked for. Once, Lauren had even enlisted a runway model as the head of women’s design since “she got the clothes.”
Creativity is yet another instance of a staff member “getting it.” Superbosses aren’t looking for staff that think exactly as they do. On the contrary, they’re excited by those who are able to think parallel to them and handle challenges with innovation.
Superbosses such as Norman Brinker, Larry Ellison, as well as the American director, Roger Corman, all listened to their potential staff’s thoughts. Throughout interviews, they wanted to learn something new!
It is also important that you are flexible if you’d like to grasp the attention of your superboss. That does not mean that you are able to alter your schedule within a short notice. For those who are superbosses, flexibility is the talent used for finding solutions to issue in foreign situations. In order to show a staff member just how crucial flexibility is, often times, superbosses give a position to a new hire that isn’t correlated with their previous experience or education.
The American cartoonist, Bill Sanders, for example, would move people around into various departments on occasion. The director, Roger Corman, would ask new actors to fill jobs within his film production team.
If you really “get it” then you will also be hired by a superboss. However, smart, creative, and nimble people aren’t very useful unless a superboss is able to push them to do well. Therefore, how do superbosses get their staff to work to the best of their abilities? Keep reading to find out.
Superbosses challenge and encourage employees to push harder and strive for more.
It’s one thing when you’ve got a team full of geniuses and another when you’ve got a team that is ready to give it their all. What would a superboss do in this case?
A superboss doesn’t only care about what an employee is able to do. Superbosses would also like to know where their staff’s boundaries are and how much more you are able to push them.
When you work with a superboss, then that means that you will never get a break. It doesn’t matter how great the numbers are or how well your department is performing; a superboss will always continue to boost the expectations. Pushing the business in a forward and in an upward direction is a continuous process for superbosses.
A former staff member of Ralph Lauren, Kenny Thomas remembers how young designers sought after working with Lauren as he had this capability of showing them what they were really able to do at levels of excellence that they could only ever dream about.
Employees don’t only perform nicely since they’re forced to, but due to the fact that just have a superboss in the room inspires them to do so. Superbosses are also quite confident; a trait that encourages and pushes staff members. Therefore, staff self-esteem is boosted as well, thus resulting in an increase in performance as well.
Previous San Francisco 49ers football player, Dwight Clark, recalls how the fierce confidence of their coach, Bill Walsh, had been so empowering, making everyone on the team confident as well. Walsh understood this. It was his way of getting his players to believe in themselves, regardless of any of the doubts that each of them may have personally.
The superboss strategy for encouraging people has a couple of sides. On one hand, a superboss encourages their staff to push their limits and boundaries. In order to keep that up, superbosses encourage people by letting their own confidence rub off on the entire team. However, whenever a superboss is a part of it, there’s a whole lot more teamwork which is something that we’ll learn more about next.