Recently Bob Sutton offered to send pre-prints of his new book to bloggers. I wrote an email and described my blog; voila I received a copy of good boss, bad boss. This offer give me the good fortune of reading a wonderful book that puts on paper ideas I have considered over the past 20 years.
I highly recommend you read the book. Please visit his website first – Bob Sutton: Work Matters – and read some of his posts.
I am a boss and have been one for over 20 years. But I am also a physician and even were I not a "boss" this book would help me understand how doctors interact with other health care professionals.
As a clinician educator I have a great interest (including a research interest) in what makes attending rounds work well. The 5 topics in the Mindset of a Good Boss pertain to ward rounds. I have modified this table, but as I read it I was struck by the wisdom Bob put into these 5 categories.
- Balance assertiveness with gentleness – the boss sometimes must assert a position, but the skilled boss can lay out a goal and still allow the team members to manage the task without micromanagement.
- Grit – great bosses have a long view of success, and the stick-to-it personality to succeed
- Small wins – good bosses find excuses to celebrate the steps required to achieve the long success. They make the team feel good on the journey
- Bosses act right – because the team is always watching them. Bosses are under a microscope and how they act matters
- Good bosses have your backs! Good bosses fight for their team and run interference against those who try to criticize the team or make life unnecessarily difficult for the team.
Note that I use the term team, because as I read the book, I imagined a good boss as a team leader.
Bravo to Bob Sutton for writing the book. Please go read his blog and his book(s).
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