LEADERSHIP QUALITIES? KNOW THEM WHEN YOU SEE THEM

The first time I saw leadership qualities was with the Boy Scouts.

Scout Master Jones led the troop right up until he took all the gear and left town.

If a scout master isn’t a leader of young men then I don’t know who is.

That’s when we got the new leader and things got better.

We had a real scout leader, a senior patrol leader, and an assistant all on the same page, which is a sign of good leadership.

Fox Patrol ruled Troop 154, but Troop 9 was the class of the local scouting world.

They had a bugler who was the envy of every Scout Camporee. (Hey Pat)

I was the only scout kid in my family and turned out to be the only one who joined the Army, too.

Call me uniformed.

Early on the smart guys in the Army identified this recruit for leadership qualities and did what they do with familiar raw material:

I got sent to leadership school.

My takeaway was the last message on the way out the door: “You’re a good leader if your men hate your fucking guts and it doesn’t bother you.”

I didn’t hate that guy’s guts as much as old scout leader.

 

Hating On The Boss Is Bad?

Who has had a boss in over their head so far that they can’t function in a normal way?

Maybe it was one of the crew who got promoted to foreman and the site manager didn’t know the rest of the guys hated his fucking guts?

Maybe the company owner’s son leveraged their way in to make ‘improvements.’

Both of them face a communication gap with the job at hand, which builds misunderstanding, resentment, and isolation.

Call those the Big Three of business management problems.

The only thing worse is the boss’s son, or owner’s son, joining the work crew to learn the ropes from the ground up.

Or they’re a mole sent to report on slackers and weed them out.

Whether it’s the boss man, or a co-worker who gets on your nerves, do one thing common to all happy men and women:

Leave That Shit At Work.

 

If You Don’t Leave It

Work stuff seeps into normal life all the time.

A guy puts in a sixty hour week and kicks back on the weekend.

Or he gets up early and drives his entire family as hard as he drives himself.

This Just In:

A newly married woman called her mother to say her husband works her so hard that she pretends she’s sick to get a break.

Breaking News:

A newly married man called his mom complaining that his wife constantly tells him what to do.

Maybe he ought to play sick? Stop complaining to his mom? Or do what his wife asks him to do?

How hard could it be?

Let’s hope the mom in each case had the sort of leadership qualities needed for the problems at hand.

When parents are subsumed in work drama that includes hating on others, it’s easy to shift the same feelings onto others outside of work like in-laws.

Nothing good comes of this.

 

Find A Gateway With Counseling, Or BoomerPdx

I worked for a company where the department head was a weaseling backstabbing son of a bitch who everyone hated.

Except he was a good guy when I met him.

It was before I learned he’d turned on other staff that resulted in their demotion and his promotion.

He found his gateway to success lined with ill-will.

Then he got sick and died and everyone felt horrible for hating on him and talking about it.

 

One: I feel so bad for wishing him dead before he got sick and died, don’t you?

Two: I didn’t wish him dead.

One: Yes you did. Everybody did.

Two: I heard it was only you.

One: I probably misunderstood. Maybe he was wishing you dead.

Two: You can’t wish me dead.

One: I didn’t.

Two: That’s not what it sounded like.

One: Maybe you misunderstood.

Two: Maybe you’re a trouble maker and I need to tell my dad.

One: Is that before or after you cry to your mommy you baby.

Two: It’s after I kick your ass.

One: Why not kick your own ass first and call it good for wishing him dead.

Two: You’re making me want to wish you dead.

One: Now there’s two of us on your death-wish list. I feel so lucky.

Two: You deserve it.

One: We all get it whether we deserve it or not. No one needs help.

Two: What are you going to do about it.

One: Carry on as if happiness is the most important thing in the world.

Two: You don’t seem so happy about things.

One: And I wouldn’t be happier if you dropped dead.

Two: That’s nice. I think?

One: Nice is happy. Thinking could be happy. 

Two: Well . . .

One: Don’t overdo it. Let’s get a beer over there. I’ll buy.

Two: It’s an open bar.

One: You and the bar have a lot in common.

 

PS: Don’t hate your boss. It’s misguided.

PSS: Don’t hate anyone. It’s probably a misunderstanding.