Who Is The Worlds Worst Boss?
The world’s worst boss
That would be you.
Even if you’re not self-employed, your boss is you. You manage your career, your day, your responses. You manage how you sell your services and your education and the way you talk to yourself.
Odds are, you’re doing it poorly.
If you had a manager that talked to you the way you talked to you, you’d quit. If you had a boss that wasted as much as your time as you do, they’d fire her. If an organization developed its employees as poorly as you are developing yourself, it would soon go under.
I’m amazed at how often people choose to fail when they go out on their own or when they end up in one of those rare jobs that encourages one to set an agenda and manage themselves. Faced with the freedom to excel, they falter and hesitate and stall and ultimately punt.
We are surprised when someone self-directed arrives on the scene. Someone who figures out a way to work from home and then turns that into a two-year journey, laptop in hand, as they explore the world while doing their job. We are shocked that someone uses evenings and weekends to get a second education or start a useful new side business. And we’re envious when we encounter someone who has managed to bootstrap themselves into happiness, as if that’s rare or even uncalled for.
There are few good books on being a good manager. Fewer still on managing yourself. It’s hard to think of a more essential thing to learn.
Post thanks to Seth Godin
Damon Klotz 
2 Responses to “Who Is The Worlds Worst Boss?”
[…] Who Is The Worlds Worst Boss? – courtesy of Damon Klotz ‘the HRockstar’, tipped as a rising blogger by TheHRD. The point here – that anyone else who managed themselves as badly as most of us do would probably be fired – is a good one, and one we could all take on board, whether we’re making new year’s resolutions or not. The plot twist? Well, perhaps Damon is adopting too much of the ‘Rockstar’ approach to creative larceny. That final line “Post thanks to Seth Godin” should actually read “Post lifted wholesale from Seth Godin”. Great attitude, Damon, but perhaps your own disciple should start with a brief brush-up on copyright, intellectual property attribution, and a pledge to promote the value of original content. Just saying … […]
Thanks for the trackback Ask Europe!
On the odd occasion I’ll repost a great blog that some of my readers may not be aware of and would be of value to them and I think everybody can take something away from this Seth Godin post. But I’ll keep your comments in mind for next time.
Whilst it would be quite Rockstar-esque to end up behind bars I’d prefer to avoid that scenario.
Damon