I read through the article and personally make it as a "Grade A Boss."

I too have had horrible bosses in the past. Unfortunately, I have a very strong personality and do not tolerate certain traits in these bad bosses lol. I often times would set them in their place. I remember some of the traits that bothered me most was "in it to get all they could for themselves and cared nothing about their associates," "office managers, never leaving the office except to use the bathroom," "pointing the finger but never stepping up and saying "I take responsibility for this!"," "not caring about associate's outside lives and building schedules that made working there regretable," etc. I could go on for hours about the bad, here's the good though...

To be a good boss you need to be someone who is outgoing and leads by example. This means, not giving work to an associate that you wouldn't do yourself. Taking responsibility for failures and successes, and not just pointing a finger and saying "it's their fault!" Understanding each associate is an unique individual and has different needs than the next. You should work to accomodate those needs as best as possible. Also, share in successes. Reward associates when things are going well. Don't reep the benefits and leave the associates wondering why they are working so hard.

Regards,

Dan

My boss is the BEST BOSS , because he hired me

I had a boss that would call me into their office, scream at me for 20 minutes, then I was supposed to go talk to the employee they were really upset with 'cuz the boss knew that THEY would quit otherwise but I couldn't because of my family/financial situation.  I tolerated that for over 2 years before I was able to get out of there.  Now I'm a boss and don't believe in belittling, intimidating or threatening employees.  And, if you trust them enough to hire them, you should trust them enough to do their job and do it right.  If they can't/won't, it becomes readily apparent and they get fired.  Problem solved.

Entrepreneurs are usually highly competent at whatever it is their business does for customers. However, running a small business, leading a group of people, and managing the activities in which those people are engaged requires another set of skills entirely.

It's not a skill set that we were born with, nor one that most individuals have had the opportunity to develop. Consequently, anyone in a leadership and management role who hasn't learned those skills is destined to struggle when trying to address the unique challenges of being "the boss."

"Good" bosses have made a conscious effort to learn how to effectively lead and manage, whereas "bad" bosses haven't. Of course, really bad bosses already know everything, so they're never going to recognize the need to develop the essential skills they lack -- and will therefore only learn (maybe, eventually) through trial and error at their employees' expense.

I think it is also important that a boss take a genuine interest in their employees, and be dedicated to developing them into successful professionals. Bosses who take their employees under their wings and give them the encouragement and training they need to become successful professionals, are well respected no matter where that employees career path takes them. I have found that over my years as a boss, that I have developed many of my employees and even worked with them as they went their own ways and developed their own businesses. I am friends with these employees to this day and two of them wrote articles in which they named me as the most influential person in their lives. It has meant a great deal to me and I keep those articles framed on the wall of my office.

Regards,

Dan